The Rs 15,907-crore Murugappa Group is betting big on the railways and defence sectors to improve the topline of its flagship company, Tube Investments of India. It is exploring the possibility of catering to hi-tech defence needs, especially in tanks and aircrafts, and hopes to significantly grow its business from the railway sector in the coming years.
The Chennai-based Murugappa group has interests in engineering, abrasives, finance, general insurance, fertilisers, farm inputs, sugar, bio-products, nutraceuticals, cycles and plantations.
Speaking to FE during his recent visit to the city, A Vellayan, vice-chairman of the group, said, ?The core business of Tube Investments will continue to grow at a particular pace. But the add on business would come from the railways and the defence sector. The group is already entrenched in the railways sector and hopes to grow fast. In the defence sector we are trying to see if the engineering skills that we have can relate to certain high tech defence requirements that the government is trying to indigenise.?
?There is a whole area of vehicles and metal-based products (sub-assemblies) that go into aircrafts and tanks and Tube Investments could be an integrater of that,? he explained.
Talking about the nutraceutical and biotech businesses of the group, he said the group is investing in people and money and developing these business to a higher level as it believes these businesses offer a lot of scope. ?With an ageing population in Europe, America and Japan, there is a good chance for us to scale up and develop these businesses for the international market. This will be done through a combination of local research and acquisitions for brand and distributors abroad,? he added.
The group is looking at a turnover of Rs 33,000 crore in five years from the current Rs 15,000 crore. Most of the growth would come from its agri, sugar and abrasives business, and the new businesses it is getting into.