Avasarala Tech chalks out Rs 100-150 cr expansion plan
Company to deliver its first nuclear fuelling machine heads
| The plan covers enhancing the capacity of its manufacturing units and setting up a separate export-oriented unit on Hosur Road. It will primarily manufacture specialised equipment for the US, Australian and European market, the company announced. |
| Mani T T, managing director & CEO of Avasarala Technologies, told reporters here that the company planned to expand capacity of its manufacturing units in Bangalore, Mysore and Pondicherry. This was to meet the growth in demand for its customised equipment catering to nuclear power, healthcare, automobile and space sectors both within the country and aboard. |
| "With India aiming to be self-reliant in nuclear power by 2012 producing at least 10,280 MW of nuclear power during the 11th Plan Period, we expect a great demand for our customised machinery for nuclear power plants," Mani added. |
| He said that besides nuclear sector, space also looked promising with the number of satellites being taken up every year in the country expected to increase to at least five. |
| Avasarala in association with ISRO has developed dual core ammonia-filled aluminum heat pipes, qualified for space applications. |
| "ISRO intends to build around 50 satellites by 2012 and Avasarala will be the sole supplier of heat pipes for these satellites," he added. |
| According to Mani, the company has a reserve of around Rs 48 crore and for the rest of the amount as part of the expansion plan, it was looking at private equity. Besides, the company might also enter capital market in the near future, he added. |
| The company also announced that it will hand over the first fuelling machine head (FMH) to the Nuclear Power Corporation of India Limited (NCPIL). The FMH which is essential for fuelling the nuclear power reactors and removing spent fuel from the reactor, was going to be installed at the Rajasthan atomic power project of NCPIL. |
| "This was an extremely critical equipment for nuclear power reactors that work in a temperature above 300 degree centigrade without human interference," Mani said. |
| The company had also got an order for manufacturing four more FMHs for NCPIL, which will be delivered to NCPIL by October this year and will be installed at Rajasthan and Kaiga power plants, Mani added. |
| The company will deliver the first FMH to NCPIL chairman and managing director S K Jain in Bangalore on Tuesday. |
| Avasarala, which started as a project consultancy organisation by eight technologists led by A Mangaapathi Rao in 1985, entered the nuclear power sector in 2000. |
| Besides FMHs, it has also supplied self-elevating platform which is used for refurbishing activity of nuclear power plants and radiation shielding windows, to NPCIL. |
| Mani said the company which was also a member of Indian atomic industries forum (IAIF) committee had actively participated in the evaluation by international thermonuclear experimental reactor (ITER) and had been admitted as a full time member in the consortium. |
| The company which employs 546 employees saw a turnover of Rs 141 crore last fiscal. |