Hitachi Hi-Rel eyes Rs 800 crore turnover by FY16

Company's Sanand plant commenced operations today

Hitachi Hi-Rel Power Electronics Pvt Ltd, a 60:40 joint venture between Japan's Hitachi Ltd and Gujarat's Hi-Rel Electronics pvt ltd, which commenced operations at Sanand today, is eyeing a turnover of Rs 800 crore by the end of financial year 2015-16.

Hiroaki Nakanishi, president, Hitachi, Ltd was here today to mark the beginning of operations at the plant.

The JV is planning the Sanand plant to break even in the second year of operations, and is eyeing a turnover of Rs 100 crore from the new facility 2013-14, Business Standard  had reported a few days back. The Hitachi Hi-Rel plant which has come up at the Gujarat Industrial Development Corporation (GIDC) Sanand with an investment of Rs 60 crore, will make high voltage drives.

"The Sanand facility has a capacity to make around 300 large drives per year" informed Piyush Shah, managing director, Hitachi Hi-Rel.  the Sanand factory will produce industrial power electronics products such as medium-voltage and low voltage inverter drives  steel automation drives and industrial automation products to increase its lineup of offerings.

By increasing production capacity through the start of operations at the new factory, Hitachi Hi-Rel seeks to increase its revenue of the Indian market. 'At the same time, Hitachi Hi-Rel will strive to expand business with a view to exporting products to regions that hold potential markets for social infrastructure systems; namely, the Middle East, Southeast Asia, Africa among others', a company statement said.

The company has an order book of around Rs 150 crore, and around 25-30% of the production would happen in Sanand.

In October 2011, Hitachi invested in Hi-Rel whereby Hi-Rel Electronics Pvt. Ltd. became a subsidiary and changed its name to Hitachi Hi-Rel Power Electronics Pvt. Ltd.

Hitachi Hi-Rel’s Gandhinagar factory manufacturers power electronics such as　industrial UPS, battery chargers and inverters for railway applications. Furthermore, since October, 2012, the factory has added grid-connected solar power inverters to the production lineup to address demand in the renewable energy field.