The Hindu : Front Page : Swraj Paul's Caparo Group plans unit at Sriperumbudur

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Sunday, Jul 30, 2006

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Swraj Paul's Caparo Group plans unit at Sriperumbudur

Special Correspondent

It will invest Rs. 300 crore in automobile components manufacturing plant

SEEKING ASSISTANCE: Angad Paul, CEO, Caparo group calling on Chief Minister M. Karunanidhi at the Secretariat on Saturday. — Photo: R. Ragu

CHENNAI: The U.K.-based Caparo Group, founded by Lord Swraj Paul, is setting up an automobile components manufacturing unit at Sriperumbudur, involving an investment of about Rs. 300 crore.

Caparo Engineering India Pvt Ltd, a Caparo Group company, will implement the project for which the Tamil Nadu Government has allotted 125 acres through the State Industries Promotion Corporation of Tamil Nadu (SIPCOT).

The project is intended to make stampings, aluminium die-castings and forgings and includes an R & D centre and a tool room. It will have an employment potential of 1,000.

Angad Paul, son of Lord Swraj and chief executive officer of the Caparo Group, met Chief Minister M. Karunanidhi here on Saturday and apprised him of the company's plans for investment in the State. He also sought assistance from the Government for setting up a convention centre and an engineering college.

Talking to The Hindu later, Mr. Paul said the Sriperumbudur project would be eligible for land at concessional price and other benefits as per the existing policy of the State.

The land chosen for the project was "strategically located," at the fork of two major highways. This would give the company high visibility. Though Caparo's products were meant for use by other manufacturers, brand power was important even for producers of inputs. Caparo, with its "unique approach to sub-assemblies," wanted to build its brand, like Intel in the case of chipsin computers or other auto component makers such as Bosch.

Mr. Paul said the Caparo group was successful even in the U.K., where the "manufacturing environment" was difficult. The group's turnover in India was about Rs. 350-400 crore. Its global turnover was set to reach one billion pounds sterling in the near future.

Founded in 1968 by Lord Swraj and managed and wholly owned by the Paul family, the group specialises in manufacture and supply of steel and engineering products. It has also diversified into hotels, innovation centres and convention centres. Recently, it set up outfits for automobile design and engineering services.

Component plants

In India, Caparo Maruti Ltd, a joint venture with Maruti Udyog, has component plants in Gurgaon and Bawal (Haryana) and Halol (Gujarat). Caparo Engineering, another subsidiary, operates plants in Pithampur (Madhya Pradesh), Greater Noida (Uttar Pradesh) and Chopanki (Rajasthan).

Mr. Paul, who is also an executive producer of successful films in the U.K. and recently in India (with his involvement in Rang De Basanti), said that in the next few years his work in the film industry would continue to be confined by and large to Britain.

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