Lord Swraj Paul's Caparo Group has announced a major expansion of its operations in India with the addition of three automotive components manufacturing plants, aimed at generating a turnover of Rs 1,000 crore (Rs 10 billion) in the next three years.
Paul, founder Chairman of London-based Caparo Group, told a group of visiting Indian journalists that Caparo was looking to generate annual turnover of Rs 300-Rs 350 crore (Rs 3-3.5 billion) in 2005, raising it to Rs 1,000 crore in three years.
With India poised to emerge as a leading manufacturer and exporter of cars in the next five years, Lord Paul envisaged that the Caparo Group would be a leading exporter of automobile components from India to other parts of the world.
His youngest son Angad is Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Caparo's Indian companies.
Paul, who was thwarted in the early 1980s from taking over DCM and Escorts companies in India, said on Sunday that the new plants were under construction for completion next year.
They include a new automotive components plant at Bawal in Haryana, which will be in operation in February-March next year and another plant in Indore, which will double its turnover to Rs 70 crore (Rs 700 million) by June next year.
Expansion of the Halol plant in Gujarat to raise the turnover to Rs 24 crore (Rs 240 million) by July next year and setting up of a plant in Haryana for manufacturing fasteners for the automotive and general industries, which will be in production by September next year with an annual turnover of Rs 50 crore (Rs 500 million) in the first phase, are the projects being planned.
Paul said work would start for constructing a leisure complex in Greater Noida on 24 acres of land that has already been acquired.
Being a person who is very proud of India and absolutely sure of its abilities, Paul said he had a dream for India on which he had been working for a long time and there was an atmosphere now in which Caparo could be part of that dream.
"My son is also dedicated to achieving that vision. He is our only British son and one can see the pride in him of being of Indian origin," he said.
Caparo started the Caparo Maruti plant in 1994 to make automotive components for Maruti and under Angad it has reached a turnover of Rs 100 crore (Rs 1 billion). The three-year-old Indore plant has a current turnover of Rs 35 crore (Rs 350 million) and the Halol plant Rs 10 crore (Rs 100 million).
Last week the Caparo Group announced acquisition of five European steel companies with a combined annual sales turnover of approximately £135 million (Rs 1,090 crore) for an undisclosed sum.
The five European steel companies, Tyco Tybe, Tyco Strip, industrial fasteners GKS-Centrepiece, Systems Scaffolding Ltd and Barcelona-based LIPE, are Britain's leading manufacturers and distributors of precision steel tubing assemblies.
Lord Paul said though India was 15 years behind China in initiating reforms, it has made good progress during the last decade and a half.
The Vajpayee government did a marvellous job during its tenure, he said and expressed confidence that the Manmohan Singh government would further hasten the pace of reforms.
Lord Paul, who is also British Ambassador for Overseas Business, said he did not envisage any hindrance from the leftist leadership to the reforms.
"In fact, at the moment, CPI and CPI-M have a very good leadership," he said, adding, "they are not against reforms but they want reforms with a human face and I fully agree with it."