Caparo Group founded by Indian born British Industrialist, Lord Swraj Paul of Marylebone,is setting up a Rs 120-crore facility at Singur to supply sheet metal and vehicle frames for the Tata Motors' Nano project.The Caparo facility would supply 12 to 15 per cent of the Nano components.
Headquartered in London, Caparo’s operations are located at over 50 sites in the UK, North America, India and Spain.The group manufactures steel tubes, aluminium die-castings, sheet metal pressings (OE), steel pressings, steel bars and wires.It is also the largest auto fastener company in the U.K.
A major portion of the $1.5-billion revenue of the Caparo Group comes from the U.K. and the U.S. India accounts for about $150 million.
Caparo’s development in India began in 1994 with a joint venture with India’s largest car manufacturer, Maruti Udyog. The group has developed three entities in India: Caparo Maruti, Caparo Engineering India PVT Ltd (CEIPL) and Caparo India Prtivate Ltd. Caparo’s Indian operations currently employ 2000 people directly, with a further 2000 people employed indirectly. Sales growth forecasts predict a 400% increase by 2008.It is supplying components to Maruti Suzuki, Honda, General Motors and JCB. The company has already invested Rs 1,000 crore in the country toward setting up 22 manufacturing facilities in Pune, Chennai and Singur in West Bengal. Caparo Group CEO Angad Paul, who is a member of the business delegation accompanying British prime minister Gordon Brown, said on Monday that the component manufacturers have to gear up to meet the Nano deadline and they have to be ready before the Tatas are ready.Asked whether the project would offer enough margin to component suppliers, considering the fact that Nano was the world's cheapest car, Paul said if there was no profit, he "would not go into a project." While there was always a battle of margins with customers, "as a CEO, I have to increase the companies' sales 10-fold and enhance margins." He said while the Tatas had initial plan to make 250,000 cars a year, they may ramp up the capacity to go up to a million. "This car can sell in seven figures in India alone." Caparo Group is planning to raise its investment and exposure in India to achieve an over six-fold increase in turnover to $1 billion within the next ten years, he said. Visiting British prime minister Gordon Brown formally inaugurated the group's Rs83-crore auto parts manufacturing facility at Greater Noida. |
