Zydex eyes Rs 150-crore orders for green roads this fiscal

Zydex Industries, a firm that specialises in building green roads using nanotechnology, aims to grab contracts worth about Rs 150 crore from India this fiscal for constructing moisture-resistant highways.
The Gujarat-headquartered company said its products have been used to build about 5,000 miles of roads in the US, but it is yet to catch up in India though it has worked with state-run Border Roads Organisation (BRO) to build such roads in Leh and Laddakh regions.
"We are targeting to get Rs 100 crore to Rs 150 crore contracts from India this fiscal," Zydex Industries Executive Vice President Vivek Kane told PTI.

Outside India, the company expects to get projects worth Rs 100 crore during the fiscal, he said.
The company has got huge response in the US, Europe and Africa, he said, adding that on domestic front, it is working in collaboration with BRO besides road builders like GVK, Ashoka Buildcon and Ramky Infra.
The company has also patented its nanotechnology which reduces water percolation into roads.

Using this technology, the government can save over Rs 21,700 annually, which is spent on maintenance of rural roads, Kane added.
"India incurs about Rs 21,700 crore per annum on maintenance of rural road assets, which could be saved. Water proofing of rural roads can be done at an expenditure of only Rs 12,000 per lane km, making the road maintenance-free for 15 to 20 years," Kane said.

He added the company is also looking to ramp-up the capacity of its Vadodara plant this fiscal, which produces silanes, a product for water proofing of roads by two times with an expenditure of Rs 50 crore.
The production capacity of the plant at present, he said, is 36,000 tonnes per annum.