Kerala: ISRO investing Rs 100 cr in titanium plant

Kochi, Jul 27: The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) is investing Rs 100 crore to set up a pilot plant for the production of titanium sponge in Kerala, State Industries Minister Elamaram Kareem said today.

Addressing a press conference here, Mr Kareem said the 500 tonne capacity plant was basically a technology demonstrator to test the technology developed by ISRO's Defence Metallurgical Research (DMR) wing.

The process of plant erection is going on in the premises of the Kerala Metals and Minerals Ltd. (KMML) at Chavara in Kollam district of the state, he said.

Mr Kareem said the union cabinet had recently proved the take-over of the Kerala Hi-tech Industries Ltd. (KELTEC), a state public sector undertaking, by the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO).

This would pave the way for KELTEC to become an exclusive production centre for the joint DRDO-Russian venture 'BRAHMOS', which had developed the indigenous supersonic 'Brahmos' missile, he said.

The LDF Government was also trying to step up collaboration between the state public sector undertakings and the central PSUs.

To this end, KELTRON was getting increasingly involved in projects given by ISRO while the Steel and Industrial Forgings Ltd. (SIFL), Thrissur, was being given contracts by the Navy. Kerala Electricals and Allied Engineering Co. Ltd. (KEL) and SIFL also had been given orders by the BHEL, he said.

Accusing the opposition UDF of needlessly raking up a controversy on the Memorandum of Understanding signed by the Kerala Government with the Russian company 'Rosoboronexport' to set up a joint venture to produce titanium sponge, Mr Kareem said the project was still in the initial stages and nothing had been finalised so far.

Asked about the UDF demand for a global tender for the project, Mr Kareem said the proposal had come from the Russian company, which was willing to invest in the joint venture to put up a 10,000 tonne titanium sponge plant costing at least Rs 1,500 crore.

Stating that there was a huge demand for titanium sponge products from the aerospace, defence and missile industries, Mr Kareem said the central government also had commended the proposed Kerala-Russia joint venture.

The minister said Kerala was ideally suited to provide components for the country's aerospace, missile and submarine projects and added that the state government would like to open an industrial park exclusively for defence units.

The DRDO had expressed support for such a venture, he said.

Besides public sector undertakings and major private defence producers such as Mahindra and Mahindra, Tata Group, L&T and Jindal, the park could also be used by small and medium companies from Kerala and outside to set up their units.

The park, to be developed by the state government, would provide common facilities such as effluent treatment and research and development. He said either Kochi, Thiruvananthapuram or Palakkad could be the possible locations for the defence industrial park.

The government would work on this project seriously and come out with a blueprint in a time-bound manner, he added.

UNI