Philippe Hilge, Pune Firm In Joint Venture

The city-based Kishor Pumps Pvt Ltd has joined hands with Philippe Hilge of Germany to form a 50:50 joint venture to manufacture, market and service special purpose hygiene pumps at Chakan near here.

The joint venture company, called Kishor Hilge Pumps (India) Pvt Ltd, will produce hygiene pumps at the existing manufacturing facility of Kishor at Chakan.

The joint venture company has till now sold about 100 hygiene pumps valued at more than Rs 50 lakh.

The joint venture will indigenise its production in a phased manner, said Kishor Desai, managing director of the company.

At present, about 30 per cent of the components that go into the manufacturing of the hygiene pumps are sourced from local industries.

 

Under the joint venture agreement, Kishor will export pump components to Hilge.

Nigel Waspe, export manager of Hilge International, the holding company of Hilge ventures overseas, said the tie-up with Kishor Pumps is his firms first-ever joint venture.

All Hilge Internationals operations are 100 per cent owned by the holding company.

Hilge International has 2 major production bases in Switzerland and France, besides Germany, and boasts of a 90 per cent market share.

Thomas Berdelle-Hilge, chairperson of Hilge International, said her company had pioneered the concept of hygiene pumps over 130 years ago when they initially catered to the needs of wineries in Europe.

She was in Pune to sign the joint venture agreement.

As Kishore Hilge Pumps (India) will initially use the manufacturing facility of Kishore Pumps, it will have a very small investment of Rs 20 lakh.

The technology will come from Hilge.