Jamna Auto Industries is planning to set up two new manufacturing units for parabolic springs and air-suspension springs for commercial vehicles in Tamil Nadu at Hosur and Chennai.
The Hosur facility will be turning out parabolic springs and the capacity will be 36,000 tonnes. The plant is expected to go on stream by December.
Greenfield plant
The greenfield plant in Chennai will manufacture air suspension, bogey suspension and lift axles. Air suspensions will be made in technical collaboration with Ridewell Corporation, a leading suspension manufacturers in the U.S. Commercial production is expected to commence from July 2011. Both the plants are being set up at a cost of Rs. 80 crore. Jamna Auto has gone in for major capacity expansion for parabolic springs to meet the demand of major commercial vehicle manufacturers — Daimler India, Renault-Nissan, Leyland-Nissan and Ashok Leyland. Tata Motors' requirement of parabolic springs is being met from the company's Malanpur plant.
For the Chennai facility, the company has already acquired land and prototypes developed are undergoing trial. Air suspensions are being increasingly used in low floor buses.
Randeep Jauhar, CEO, said India had firmly established its position among the fastest growing and cost-efficient automobile markets in the world, leading to large global automakers setting up their production units here. Southern India has been a key region for these automakers, he said.
“As a strategic initiative, we have decided to expand our manufacturing presence in this region. It will not only enable us to gain proximity to our customers but would also enable us to provide cost efficient quality products”, the CEO added.
Jamna Auto, second largest spring manufacturers in the world, had recorded a consolidated sales turnover of Rs. 661 crore and profit after tax of Rs. 11 crore for the financial year 2009-10.
In the first nine months of the current financial year 2010-11, the company recorded a consolidated turnover of Rs. 696 crore and profit after tax of Rs. 25 crore.