State-run wagon manufacturing unit Braithwaite & Co Ltd is aiming at a net profit of Rs 2.08 crore after the takeover by the ministry of railways. The company, which turned around in the last four years, is one of the few units manufacturing tank wagons in the country.
Braithwaite, which was established in 1913 as the Indian subsidiary of Braithwaite & Co. Engineers Limited (UK) for undertaking fabrication of structural steel works, was incorporated as a fully owned Govt. of India undertaking in 1976. The company turned sick in 1992 but things began changing for the better from 2004. Workers in the beleaguered company hoped for a full-blown revival after Railway minister Mamata Banerjee proposed to take it over from the Ministry of Heavy Industries.
?Our profitability started to jump upwards from 2007-08,? said Sunil Kumar Rishi, managing director of the company. Net profit of the company increased to Rs 1.5 crore during 2008-09 from a mere Rs 55 lakh the previous fiscal.
?With the hope of large orders from the railways we are targeting a net profit of Rs 2.08 crore during 2010-11,? said Rishi. Braithwaite has targeted to reach a turnover of Rs 200 crore during 2010-11, more than three fold increase from the previous fiscal’s turnover of Rs 68 crore.
But Braithwaite’s bad days are not yet over as the company is facing working capital crunch. ?At present we are using 60% of our capacity. We have produced 1001 wagons in 2009-10. We can produce 1500-1800 wagons in 2010-11 but for that we need working capital,? said Rishi. The company is likely to approach the ministry of Railways to meet the working capital requirement.
Meanwhile, the Braithwaite board will meet on June 28 to seek formal approval of the members for the handover. It will also require approval from the board of directors of Bharat Bhari Udyog Nigam Ltd, the holding company.