Bajaj Electricals eyes diversification, acquisitions

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"We are looking for diversification and acquisitions that will fit into our strategic business," said Bajaj Electricals chairman and managing director Shekhar Bajaj.

"We have earmarked about Rs.100 crore out of Rs.160 crore we raised recently through QIP (qualified institutional placement)," Bajaj told reporters.

The Bajaj group firm is planning to foray into marketing solar-powered products by sourcing them from a third-party vendor. The products include solar panels for street lighting and solar lanterns for rural consumers.

"We don't intend to manufacture solar cells but source associated products like solar panels and lanterns from third party. We are looking at semi-urban and villages where we are doing some electrification projects," he said.

The company's engineering and projects business unit recently bagged a Rs.204-crore contract for rural electrification from National Electric Supply Co Ltd (NESCL), covering 1,898 villages and 450,000 below poverty line (BPL) homes in West Bengal's Murshidabad district.

"We have also bagged a subsequent order valued at Rs.72 crore from NESCL to provide electricity connections to 1,200 villages in Orissa covering 71,000 BPL homes," Bajaj added.

The Rs.1,770-crore Mumbai-based firm has also decided to increase its stake in Starlite Lighting at Nashik in Maharashtra, from 32 percent currently.

"We propose to raise our holding in Starlite, which manufactures compact fluorescent lamps (CFL) with technology from GE (General Electric) Hungary, for scaling up production for exports and meeting domestic demand," Bajaj said.

Bajaj Electricals invested Rs.7.5 crore (Rs.75 million) in Starlite in 2007.

Starlite is set to expand the annual production capacity of CFL to 40 million units by this year-end from 15 million units presently.

As part of green technologies, the consumption of CFL lamps in India has zoomed to 280 million units per annum from 80 million in 2008, thanks to a sharp decline retail price from Rs.650 per lamp to Rs.80.

"We have set a sales target of Rs.5,000 crore (Rs.50 billion) for 2013-14 from organic and inorganic growth, including diversification and acquisitions," Bajaj said.

"With collaboration with foreign partners, we are expanding our business into HVAC (heating, ventilation and air-conditioning controls) and IBM (integrated building management) business."

The listed firm has set a sales target of Rs.2,200 crore (Rs.22 billion) for this fiscal. Its net sales increased to Rs.1,470 crore in the first nine months, from Rs.1,122 crore in the like period last fiscal.

"The margins in the fourth quarter will be under pressure due to increase in input costs following the rise metals costs during the last five months. Our sales, however, were not impacted by the slowdown in the economy," Bajaj said.

The company's engineering and projects business unit offers turnkey services in electrical and illumination engineering, including high mast lighting.