Bharat Forge is gearing up for its second phase of expansion in the non-auto sector. The company will be investing Rs 1,200 crore to Rs 1,500 crore over the next three to five years to make components and heavy forgings with a focus on energy, marine, locomotive and aerospace sectors.
?The commissioning of the fully integrated ring rolling facility at Baramati marks the completion of the first phase of strategic investment in the non-automotive sector during the last three to five years. The first phase of growth in the non-auto sector involved making components and forgings in the 40-50 tonne category. In the second phase, we will take this to 500 tonne, largely involving equipment for the nuclear power plants,? Baba Kalyani, CMD, Bharat Forge said.
Non-auto revenues will be touching 30 % by the end of this year and the target is to achieve 40% of our revenue from the non-auto sector by 2012, he said. The company?s non-automotive foray addresses three verticals including energy (thermal, wind, hydro and nuclear), oil and gas, transportation for rail, marine and aerospace and capital goods for metal mining.
The company would raise funds for the expansion partly through internal accruals and debt equity route. Normally the debt equity ratio in such cases is around 1:1. For this, we could require Rs 450 crore worth equity spread over an expanse of three years, he explained.
Kalyani was speaking to reporters after the commissioning of the ring rolling facility in Baramati on Monday.
The new facility, equipped with a 4,000 ton blanking press has the ability to roll rings up to a maximum diameter of 4.5 metres, maximum height of up to 500 mm and maximum weight of up to 3 tonne.
The ring business has customers both in the domestic and export markets and has applications in the wind energy, making gearboxes for industrial equipment, turbines and generators in the power sector and specialty segments such as aerospace, rocket motors and jet engines, he explained.
This is currently in the development stage and we are in the approval process with at least 15-20 customers, he said.
