The Rs 300 crore Indian crane manufacturing major, Anupam Industries Ltd, and Japanese conglomerate Mitsubishi Heavy Industries Ltd (MHI) have joined hands to form a new joint venture company, Anupam-MHI Industries Ltd. This JV will manufacture port cranes and material handling equipment for domestic and global markets. It is aimed at aggressively exploring India's fast-growing market, with the global markets in sight.

Elaborating on the plans for this new JV, Mr Mehul Patel, Managing Director of Anupam Industries Ltd, and CEO of new JV Company, said, "The two JV partners will invest equity capital of Rs 188 crore in Anupam-MHI Industries, with Anupam holding 51% and MHI owning 49%. The head office will be located at Anand in the state of Gujarat and two manufacturing units will be set up at Anand and Mundra in the state."

Mr Kanji Obata, Chairman of new JV said, "Port crane and equipment market is expected to grow significantly in India, Middle East, Asian Countries and Latin America. Going forward, leveraging MHI brand, reputation and global customer base with JV's cost competitive production base and aggressive marketing the JV expects a reasonable market share and position, globally."

The first phase of capital expenditure for the JV has been finalised with a capital expenditure of Rs 280 crore. To facilitate fabrication and manufacture of these gigantic products, an inland manufacturing facility spread over 300,000 sq.m of land area at Tarapur near Anand, Gujarat is in progress.

Port cranes (ship-to-shore, rail mounted gantry, rubber tyred gantry) require a seafront facility for final assembly and roll off of products into barges. Towards this purpose, Anupam-MHI has arranged for 120,000 square metres of land at Mundra Port and Special Economic Zone (MPSEZ) along with a load out jetty for roll-on / roll-off for the completely erected and commissioned equipment on to the barge / vessel for onward dispatch to customers.

When the facilities are in place at Anand and Mundra, Anupam-MHI will have total manpower strength of around 2000 people. This facility would be the first and only of its kind in India and one of the very few in the world. The first phase will have sufficient capacity to generate sales of Rs 800 crore. Prospects for the next stage of expansion happening seamlessly and soon are very bright in view of the encouraging market potential.

The joint venture company has already bagged its first 2 orders: Rs 100 crore worth order for 3 units of ship-to-shore container handling cranes (RMQC) from JNPT and another significant order of around Rs 200 crore plus for 6 units of ship unloaders from Krishnapatnam Port. This private sector port has an option to order further 4 nos. of unloaders of around Rs 135 crore.

Earlier, in April 2010, MHI had agreed to license its crane and material handling equipment technology for large-scale ports, including container cranes, to Anupam Industries Limited, India's largest overhead crane builder. Under this license agreement, the company has already executed higher capacity forging & ladle crane orders for L&T and Jindal Steel & Power. This JV will further strengthen the ties between the two partners. By combining MHI's product development and manufacturing expertise and engineering know-how relating to installation with Anupam's production bases and local marketing/service network, the two companies are engaged dynamically to develop their market in India and globally.

The new company will handle manufacturing, domestic marketing and after-sales service for port-use loading and unloading equipment, including container cranes and unloaders; bulk material handling equipment and also large ladle cranes. MHI shall look after global marketing and associated services through its vast global network.

The JV is expected to commence operations in the first half of 2012 and will target an annual production of 60 units.

(Suvendu Senapati, Senior Manager-Corporate Communications, Anupam Industries Limited, Anand, Gujarat. Email: suvendu.senapati@anupamgroup.com)