Opto Circuits' SEZ by mid-2013

Opto Circuits (India) Ltd (OCIL), the Bangalore-based maker of medical diagnostics and interventional products, has commenced work on its new single-product special economic zone (SEZ) at Hassan. The company is investing close to Rs 200 crore on setting up a greenfield manufacturing facility, a top company official said.

“We have acquired 250 acres at the industrial growth centre in Hassan from Karnataka Industrial Area Development Board (KIADB). Three group companies of Opto Group will set up their manufacturing facility at this SEZ. The construction work has started and we wish to complete the work in the next 12-15 months,” Valiveti Bhaskar, Head - Finance, Opto Circuits Group, told Business Standard..

He said, apart from OCIL, two other subsidiaries like Opto Eurocor Healthcare Ltd and Opto Cardiac Care Ltd are setting up their manufacturing units at Hassan SEZ. Over a period of time, the company plans to consolidate its manufacturing activity in Hassan SEZ, Malaysia and in the US for Its different products.

Presently, the company operates out of 11-12 manufacturing units across India, Malaysia and the US. It has three plants each in the US and Malaysia, and six units in India. Its Indian units are in Bangalore, Vizag, Kolkata, Chennai and in Himachal Pradesh. Another subsidiary, Advanced Micronic Systems Ltd also has a manufacturing unit in Bangalore.

Opto circuits and its subsidiaries manufacture a wide range of invasive and non-invasive medical devices like vital signs monitors, anaesthetic gas benches, cardiac monitors, stents, implants, catheters, vascular diagnostics, AEDs and consumables among others.

Bhaskar said, apart from Opto group companies, some of its vendors may also set up their manufacturing units at the Hassan SEZ.

“The company has also acquired about 33 acres in Mysore for setting up another SEZ. But, we are not looking to develop SEZ there immediately,” he said.

Opto Circuits plans to manufacture the entire range of products at the SEZ and it recently received USFDA approval for the sale of its new product, MySense Heart, a wearable Holter cardiac monitor. The company intends to launch this product in the US markets towards the end of first quarter. “We are talking to several large hospital chains in the US for selling this product at their pharmacies and also through other pharma stores in the US,” Bhaskar added.

The market for this product in the US is estimated at $100 million annually and Opto Circuits would be one of the two companies to sell this product in the US market, he said.

The company has recently entered into a partnership with Germany-based Innovint Aircraft Interior GmbH, a global maker of aircraft interior and equipment and supplier of Airbus to distribute automated external defibrillators (AEDs) on aircraft worldwide.

For year-ended March 2012, Opto Circuits has reported a 49 per cent jump in its net sales at Rs 2,357 crore over the previous year. Its net profit for the year went up 56 per cent to Rs 572 crore.