Alstom India eyes Rs 14,000-crore business

Company is pinning hopes on three sets of tenders from PGCIL for procuring equipment to boost grid health

Alstom T&D India, the Indian subsidiary of euro 20-billion global power equipment maker, is eyeing business opportunity of Rs 14,000 crore in the country’s transmission and distribution segments till 2017.
The Noida-based company is pinning hopes on three sets of tenders from state-owned transmission utility Powergrid Corporation for procuring equipment to boost grid health. This includes tenders for sourcing 30 static VAR compensators (SVCs) that regulate grid voltage, 1,700 phasor measurement units (PMUs) used to monitor variation in power flow and other applications to secure grid.

“The Rs 4,500 crore tender for SVCs is already out while the tenders for the other two sets of equipment are yet to be floated. The value of the PMU tender, to be issued in two phases, would be close to Rs 6,000 crore. Also, tender for grid security would source equiment of around Rs 4,000 crore,” Rathin Basu, Country President and Managing Director of Alstom T&D India said here. The government had decided to install SVCs after massive power overdrawal by states led to the world’s largest grid failure leading to a blackout in 22 states in July last year.

The Rs 3,150 crore company occupies the largest market share – 19% – in the highly fragmented Euro 3 billion market for transmission and distribution equipment in India. Basu said the government’s Financial Restructuring Plan (FRP) for ailing distribution sector has led to growth of fresh investment from utilities.

The company has invested close to Rs 1,000 crore in setting up manufacturing facilities in India since 2007. “This is enough for us to meet the growing demand for the next five years. The business likely to come from the new tenders might require some additional investment but no new factories are being planned at the moment,” Basu said.

The company has a current order book of Rs 6,000 crore for supplies to be made in India. The 100 year-old company has 3,500 employees and operates eight factories supplying transmission equipment of over 765 Kilovolt capacity, power transformers, Gas-Insulated Switchgears (GIS) and smart-grid solutions in India.