Jaipan Industries mulls JV in Egypt

Home appliances and consumer durables manufacturer Jaipan Industries is mulling setting up a joint venture assembly unit for home appliances with a local partner in Egypt by 2012, a top company official said.

"We have started exporting home appliances products to Egypt and are considering setting up a joint venture unit with a local partner in Egypt by 2012 to meet the huge demand of home appliances products in Egypt and several other African countries," Jaipan Industries's Director Atin Agarwal told PTI here today.

"We have already entered into a JV with an Egyptian partner for distribution and within two years we expect to create a market and start manufacturing," Agarwal said.

The country will use Egypt as a base to the entire African market estimated at Rs 5,500 crore market, he said.

Jaipan will have a 25 per cent stake and the Egyptian partner will have a 75 per cent stake in the proposed JV, Agarwal said.

"We have distributors in Uganda and South Africa. There is a huge demand for pressure cookers in Africa," he said.

Jaipan is already exporting its home appliances products to 12 countries, with the largest exports to the US, he said.

The company has now drawn up a Rs 20-crore capital investment plan which will be financed through debt and internal accruals, Agarwal said.

The capex also includes Rs 15 crore in expansion of non-stick cookware from 1.5 lakh pieces to three-lakh pieces per month at its Silvasa unit.

Jaipan Industries also plans to foray into lighting and fitting industry with manufacturing of CFL, LED bulbs.

"We are entering into manufacturing of CFL and LED bulbs at our new unit at Haridwar in Uttarakhand," Agarwal said, adding that lighting is a Rs 5,000-crore market in India.

The company will manufacture five-lakh CFL bulbs and 60,000 LED bulbs at the Haridwar unit.