"The company also plans to provide financial aid to its consumers," company area director (south Asia) Aspi Pajnigara told The Financial Express. The client can obtain a term-loan of around 5 years to 7 years from banks and financial institutions against the usual requirements such as a bank guarantee or mortgage of assets, he said. All this is at a preliminary stage and may be implemented in phases starting with the establishment of assembling units, Pajnigara said.

With the growing popularity of natural gas as fuel for power generation, the company plans to use it effectively through engines, officials said. It is environmentally safe, inexpensive and easily available. The capital cost of gas engines could be higher by 15 per cent to 20 per cent compared to a diesel engine but the operating costs are lowerby at least 60 per cent.

The company offers turnkey services which includes setting up of cooling towers and silencers. Cummins Wartsila is ready to meet all the needs arising from captive power generation, distribution utilities and embedded power generation, Pajnigara said.

The company specialises in 1.5mw to 3mw gensets, largely used for captive power generation and for standby facility. "As the need for reliable supply of power grows, the market for these gensets is expanding," he added. Besides, these engines also assure quality electricity in terms of voltage and frequency, company deputy general manager (power generation) Atul Atre said.

Cummins Wartsila has installed more than 25 gensets in the country totaling around 70mw. "We plan to instal around 20 gensets aggregating 40mw by the end of next year," Atre said. There is huge potential for growth in a market of about 400mw for 1mw to 5mw gensets, he added.

The company's clientele includes Reliance, the Vardhaman group and Nagarjuna Cement. Itopened an office in Pune early this year to provide a greater thrust to marketing and after sales services. It will also use the wide network of its partner Cummins Engine Company, which provides a large range of services and products, Atre said. The Pune office will also cater to the markets in Sri Lanka and Bangladesh.

Cummins Wartsila is a 50:50 joint venture between the US-based Cummins Engine Company and Wartsila NSD Corporation of Finland. Based in France, the joint venture has marketing units in several countries.