Bharat Forge teams up with UK-based firm for gear boxes

Forging giant Bharat Forge Ltd, (Bharat Forge) through its wholly owned subsidiary, BF Infrastructure Ventures Limited (BFIVL) and UK based gear boxes manufacturer David Brown Group has formed a joint venture (JV) company 'David Brown Bharat Forge Gear Systems India Limited.' Under this JV, both the companies are investing Rs 29 crore for the production of gear boxes for various industries. The JV company will serve the Indian heavy engineering industry, supplying both new build gearboxes and aftermarket services the sectors including power, mining, defence, wind, rail and steel.

The companies will have a 50:50 equity partnership in the JV company. David Brown is a global leader in the gearbox and transmissions markets. The JV company will focus on new build & aftermarket opportunities in India. The company will serve the Indian conventional power, wind, rail, cement, metals, rubber, mining, hydro, defence and aftermarket industries initially.

 

Commenting on this venture, B N Kalyani, chairman and managing director of Bharat Forge Ltd. said, "Aligned with the Kalyani group’s strategy to diversify into non-auto business sectors and also to enter into equipment manufacturing this joint venture is one more step in the direction of reiterating our strong commitment to providing world class technology to the fastest growing core infrastructure market in India. We are proud to be associated with a highly respected global company like David Brown with its rich heritage and world class technology. This is the first of our many steps to follow in the areas of providing high quality after-sales service to core-infrastructure areas".

Jim McColl, Chairman of David Brown comments on the occasion: "There is a huge market for this industry around the world. The size of the industry is $600 million and we are trying to tap the opportunities of this market through this JV. This is an extremely exciting development in David Brown’s growth strategy. We recognise India is a high growth territory for gearing products and services and so we are delighted to have found such a well-respected and prominent partner in BFIVL. This joint venture enables us to develop these high demand and growing industries by providing customer proximity through a local network. I look forward to working with BFIVL".

Initially, ‘David Brown Bharat Forge Gear Systems India Ltd’ is intended to be operational from Bharat Forge’s current facilities. However, by the middle of 2012, it is intended to have a dedicated site for gear box assembly and testing. Further, the JV Company intends to set-up two service centres in Bangalore and Kolkata by the end of 2011. Additional locations for service centres in Delhi and Hyderabad are being planned by the end of 2013. These service centres will be designed to world class standards, providing rapid aftermarket service and support to key industries.

David Brown has six key manufacturing facilities in the UK, South Africa, China, Australia, France and the USA.