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Mumbai, Nov 22 (UNI) Engineering and construction major Larsen&Toubro Ltd has decided to set up a large shipyard at a cost of over Rs 2,000 crore to capitalise on expected demand for vessels as international trade grows, said its chairman and managing director A M Naik here today.

Addressing a media-analyst meet here, Mr Naik said the company was looking for land in the coastal states of Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh, Maharashtra and Gujarat. ''We are scouting and are looking at 4-5 locations. We will decide the location by January-end.'' With increasing trade, he continued, there is going to be huge opportunity in shipbuilding. ''India needs at least 2-3 large shipyards for its own requirements,'' said Mr Naik.

L&T already builds ships at Hazira in Gujarat, but this facility could only handle smaller vessels, he said while responding to a query. The company has been involved in construction of several ports and is active in the dredging segment.

Its revenue was expected to grow 20 per cent in the year to March 2007, while its order backlog, US Dollars 6.5 billion at the end of September, was likely to grow 30-35 per cent over the whole financial year, in line with what the company had projected last month, he added.

UNI SN SSS SKB1845