NRI industrialist Lord Swraj Paul will undertake a fortnight-long visit to India beginning Friday to take stock of the fast growing operations of Caparo automobile plants and assess further investment prospects in the country.
During his visit, Lord Paul, Chancellor of Wolverhampton and Westminster Universities in the UK, will inaugurate the newly established Caparo School of Excellence in Manufacturing and Materials Technology in his birthplace Jalandhar on Saturday.
The School, according to Lord Paul, is his family gift to India in the name of his daughter Ambika. The school’s development is funded by the Ambika Paul Foundation, a charitable trust set up in memory of his daughter who lost her battle with Leukaemia in 1968.
It is his first initiative towards fostering entrepreneurship in India by catalysing, accelerating and supporting the growth of manufacturing and materials technology.
Lord Paul will also attend the inauguration of the 120-acre Caparo Industrial Complex at Sripedambudur in Tamil Nadu by Chief Minister M Karunanidhi on October 4.
Caparo, under its CEO Angad Paul, younger son of Lord Paul, is a global group with a one and a half billion dollar turnover.
The company operates from over 50 sites in the UK, India, North America, Spain and Poland. The diverse group has business interests predominantly in the manufacture of steel, automotive and engineered products, but also in materials testing services, hotels, film distribution and private equity investment.
In India, Caparo’s activities are focused on the automotive components sector and products include pressings, fasteners, aluminium castings, forgings, tubing and tubular components.
Caparo India currently operates on 15 sites but expects to complete construction of a further 16 plants by the end of next year. According to Angad Paul, sales of Caparo India are expected to exceed Rs.2000 crores in 2009.
During his visit, Lord Paul, who is a member of a British Parliamentary delegation, will participate in the Commonwealth Parliamentary Conference commencing in New Delhi next Monday.
“The delegation is looking forward to the deliberations. West Bengal Speaker, Hashim Abdul Halim, the longest serving speaker in the world, will be President of the conference, which will be chaired by Lok Sabha Speaker Somnath Chatterjee,” Lord Paul said.
Lord Paul will also visit the Caparo Fasteners Plant in Chopanki in Rajasthan, Caparo Maruti Plants in Bawal and Gurgaon in Haryana, the Greater Noida Cultural and Convention Centre in UP, Dewas and Pithampur Plants in Madhya Pradesh, Sanaswadi and Markal Plants in Pune, Maharashtra, Halol Plant in Gujarat and the new Caparo Facilities in Chennai.
Caparo India has also acquired 100 acres of land each in Haryana and Chennai and 20 acres in Madurai for its new plants.
During the visit, Lord Paul will speak on Contemporary India and Prospects of Indo-British ties at a dinner hosted by NRI Institute on September 23 at Hotel InterContinental The Grand and address members of the FICCI in New Delhi on October 1 on “Social and Structural Impediments to a Rapidly Developing India.”
He will deliver a lecture on Manufacturing Industrial Products in a Globalised World in Indore on October 5.
Lord Paul, who is also British Ambassador for Overseas Business, will meet the British Ambassador for UAE, Edward Oakden and British Consulate General John Hawkins in Dubai on Thursday. He will also meet Indian Ambassador in the UAE Talmiz Ahmed in Dubai before visiting Caparo (GCC) facilities there.