The Union Cabinet on Thursday approved the proposal of Alstom of France to set up a joint venture with Bharat Forge to make power equipment involving foreign direct investment inflow of Rs. 490 crore. The approval was accorded by the Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs headed by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, based on the recommendations of the Foreign Investment Promotion Board, according to an official statement issued here. Alstom Power Holdings of France, Alstom Technology of Switzerland and Alstom France had proposed to establish joint venture companies in India for manufacturing power equipment.
The proposal is to establish two joint venture companies in India with Bharat Forge or its affiliate companies and to invest 70.5 million euro to manufacture state-of-the-art super-critical and sub-critical power plant equipment in India, the statement said. Alstom’s Indian arm has a turnover of over $500 million and employs 4,000 people at its research unit in Bangalore, a technology centre in Vadodara and four manufacturing units. Apart from offering its capabilities in engineering, manufacturing, project management and supply of power generation equipment, the Indian arm has a major presence in the transport sector, providing railway equipment and solutions. Bharat Forge is the flagship of the $2.4-billion Kalyani group, with interests in manufacturing various forged and machined components for the automotive and non-automotive sectors. It is also one of India’s emerging multinationals, with manufacturing operations across 12 locations in six countries — four in India, three in Germany, two in China and one each in Sweden, Scotland and the U.S.