Steel product manufacturing conglomerate The Caparo Group, promoted by the India-born UK industrialist and parliamentarian Swraj Paul, is diversifying into new product manufacturing lines in India, a market that accounts for 15 per cent of the company’s global business.
Speaking from the Caparo offices in London, Lord Paul said, “We would like to see that grow to 25 per cent.”
A business decision driven by the recessionary downturn in the automobile market – a 30 per cent drop and from which it is slowly recovering, said Lord Paul - the company has diversified into what is uncharted terrain. A few of its nearly 23 locations in India will now manufacture battery-operated cycle rickshaws and autos, bio-toilets, solar energy systems, and composite technologies for the construction industry.
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Production on the new product lines began in 2014 and the initial interest the Indian market has shown has been encouraging. The company has already got orders for the battery-operated rickshaw range, and, from several State Governments for the bio-toilets as well, said Lord Paul, adding, “The decision to produce this was inspired by the comment, ‘There are more temples in India than toilets.’”
The Caparo Group has tried its hand at manufacturing outside its core area of automotive components at least once before. In 2007, it built the Caparo T1, a racing car that was said to be the fastest in the world. Between 25-30 cars were sold before the financial crisis put an end to that venture. “Now we manufacture based on orders,” said Lord Paul.
He recalls how he stopped in London in 1966 en route the United States because his youngest daughter was in urgent need of hospitalisation, with no plans to stay on. That is what he eventually did, first establishing a small unit manufacturing spiral-winded pipes in 1968, which became the nucleus of the Caparo Group, today a US $ 2 billion turnover company with a 10,000-strong workforce and a presence in 40 countries.
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