The unit will come up at Vornech and a memorandum of understanding is to be signed shortly with the state-owned Russian Electronics Corporation (REC), according to group chairman VN Dhoot.

He said here on Thursday that an MoU was to have been signed during the Russian President Vladimir Putin's visit to the city but due to lack of time it has now been put off by two weeks.

Dhoot said controlling interest in the Russian venture would lie with Videocon. The REC would subscribe to the equity and debt amounting to about $200 million in the new venture which should be ready in two years time, he added.

According to Dhoot, there are only six such units in the world manufacturing coloured glass shells. The Vornech unit would manufacture five million shells per annum and would cater to the Russian market, he said.