Hitachi Hi-Rel Power Electronics, a 60:40 joint venture between Japan's Hitachi and Gujarat's Hi-Rel Electronics, is all set to start commercial production at its Sanand facility from next week. The JV is planning the Sanand plant to break even in the second year of operations, and is eyeing a turnover of Rs 100 crore from the new facility 2013-14, a senior official claimed.
The Hitachi Hi-Rel plant which has come up at the Gujarat Industrial Development Corporation (GIDC) Sanand with an investment of Rs 60 crore, will make high voltage drives.
"The Sanand facility has a capacity to make around 300 large drives per year," informed Piyush Shah, managing director, Hitachi Hi-Rel.
He added that the new facility has come up over one-third of the plot which spreads over 6 acres. Therefore, there is scope for future expansion.
"We have an order book of around Rs 150 crore, and around 25-30% of the production would happen in Sanand, where we are starting commercial production from next week. In the first year of operations, i.e, 2013-14 we are eyeing a turnover of around Rs 100 crore from the Sanand facility, and hope that it would break even in the second year of operations," Shah explained.
Hitachi Hi-Rel has another operational plant at Gandhinagar, which makes customised system solutions in the power electronics space. "From our Gandhinagar facility we have already started exporting to South East Asian countries like Malaysia, Indonesia and African countries like Zambia and South Africa," Shah informed.
The Gandhinagar facility originally built by Hi-Rel Electronics has now come under the JV assets.
The Hitachi Hi-Rel Sanand plant would be the second facility in the area that would start commercial operations after the Tata Motors Nano plant, Shah claimed.
The company which registered a turnover of Rs 150 in 2011-12, is eyeing a turnover of Rs 250 crore in the current fiscal. The estimated market size for power electronics equipment in India is around Rs 6,000-7,000 crore, growing at a compounded annual growth rate of 15-20%, Shah informed.
Demand for power electronic equipment is slated to grow as large scale investments are planned in renewable energy sectors as well as low carbon technologies, besides usage by large-scale power plants, steel works and petrochemical plants. These developments are expected to lead to expansion in the markets for products such as medium-voltage inverter systems, uninterrupted power supplies (UPS) and power conditioners for solar and wind power generation.
