Bajaj Electricals to invest 300 mln rupees to expand

MUMBAI (Reuters) - Lighting products and consumer appliances maker Bajaj Electricals Ltd is investing 300 million rupees to expand its hot dip galvanizing capacity to 50,000 tonnes, a top official said on Friday.

The expansion would be completed by the end of 2008/09, Chairman and Managing Director Shekhar Bajaj told Reuters. The unit is already working at its full capacity of 30,000 tonnes.

The unit, part of its engineering and projects division, makes and galvanises transmission towers, poles and sheet metal items.

"High revenue growth is clearly in our engineering and projects division and most of our resources go to this division," Bajaj said.

Last year, the division contributed nearly 30 percent to revenues, and logged 23 percent annual growth. It handles rural electrification, lighting for stadia and ports, highmast monopoles for telecom applications, and transmission line towers.

The electrical and consumer appliances business, which grew 34 percent last year, is driving the company's bottomline, Bajaj said.

Recently it tied up with an Italian appliances firm to market gas appliances in India.

"Last year we became number one in the mixer-grinder segment and sold over one million irons," Bajaj said. His company was the Indian market leader in electrical appliances, he added.

Bajaj Electricals' revenue is estimated to have risen 33 percent in the first five months of the current fiscal and it expects an overall revenue rise of 25 percent for the year, almost on par with last year's 26 percent.