Ircon Branch-Out Nets Rs 400 Cr In Jan 96-March 97

An ambitious business diversification plan has helped railway public sector undertaking Ircon International Ltd to earn about Rs 400 crore between January 1996 and March 1997.

Ircons diversification efforts fetched it Rs 250 crore between January 1996 and January 1997. Another Rs 150 crore is estimated to have been earned by the company during the January-March period through its new ventures, said an Ircon spokesman.

The PSU, which earlier focused on developing railway infrastructure including overseas assignments for refurbishment, maintenance and leasing of locomotives has now ventured into varied areas. These include hospital construction, an optical fibre project in the joint sector, highway construction projects and the installation of a digital microwave communication system for the Gas Authority of India.

The spokesman said Ircon has made considerable progress in constructing a full-fledged modern hospital at Bhopal. The hospital is being financed by a Rs 200-crore fund in the UK, which is administered by former British minister I C Persevian. The fund was set up following the Bhopal gas tragedy to promote health-care at Bhopal and other places which require modern medical facilities. The cost of the project, which was awarded to Ircon after competitive bidding, is about Rs 70 crore. Nearly 40 per cent of the project is said to have been already completed.

Ircon is also planning to undertake several highway projects, including an ADB-funded road project in India.The Gas Authority optical fibre cable communication system is a Rs 200-crore project for the cable lines to be put along the Mumbai-Chennai-Bangalore-Hyderabad track on a BOT basis, in collaboration with Usha Tagas, a Malaysian company.