Toshiba to invest $30 mn in power T&D business in India

Toshiba Corporation has announced that it will invest about $30 million in a power transmission and distribution business in India.

The Japanese firm said the new investment will be for expanding the production capacity of Toshiba Transmission & Distribution Systems (India) Pvt. Ltd. in Hyderabad.

"Toshiba Corporation will reinforce its transmission & distribution (T&D) business in India with a 3-billion yen (approx. $30 million) investment in new production capacity at Toshiba Transmission & Distribution Systems (India) Pvt. Ltd. (TTDI) in Hyderabad," the company said in a statement Monday.

This investment is part of the $100 million Toshiba plans to invest in T&D business in India by 2016.

"India is a high growth market that Toshiba has positioned as a strategic base for its power-related businesses," said Katsutoshi Toda, chairman and managing director, TTDI.

A new line for large power transformers will come on line in spring 2015, at the same time as the full scale launch of a new line for switchgears.

Alongside its existing production line of small- and medium-capacity transformers and low- and medium-voltage switchgears, the new power transformer line will support production of 765kV transformers with a capacity of 500MVA, while the new switchgear line will produce high voltage products.

"Toshiba is seeking to secure a 20 percent share of the Indian market by 2018, and also reinforce Toshiba Transmission & Distribution Systems (India) Pvt. Ltd. as a core T&D production base for other major markets, including Europe, ASEAN, and Africa," added Toda.

India continues to record high economic growth, and long-term capital investment for infrastructure is expected in key areas such as electricity and transportation. In T&D, the Indian government is promoting measures to increase the number of 765kV substations, toward increasing the country's transmission capacity five times by 2017. This policy is driving demand for large power transformers and high voltage switchgears.

Toshiba established Toshiba Transmission & Distribution Systems (India) Pvt. Ltd. in 2013 by acquiring T&D business from Vijai Electricals Ltd for $200 million and also started operation of a new power transformer facility in Russia in February 2014.

By utilizing these operations as part of an integrated global supply network, plus with the worldwide sales network of Landis+Gyr, a Toshiba Group company, Toshiba aims to achieve global sales of about $7,000 million in the T&D and smart grid business in FY2015, the statement added.