L and T Cassidian form JV

The Joint Venture based in Talegoan near Pune and in the city will be active in the defence electronics market and aims to cover manufacturing, design, engineering, distribution and marketing in the fields of electronic warfare, radars, avionics and mobile systems such as bridges for military applications, representatives of the JV told reporters here.

The name of the Joint Venture has been submitted to the authorities and awaited approval, Member of L & T Board and President Heavy Engineering M V Kotwal said.

L & T will hold 74 per cent in the JV and Cassidian 26 per cent.

"We are having a global leader in aerospace as our partner.

The JV has potential to reach USD 0.5 billion to USD One billion mark in business volumes in the next ten years and the volume of investments will also go in tune", Kotwal said.

Talegoan will be the location for the JV where L & T has set up the facility on 30 acres and about USD 20 million will be invested in the first phase, he said.

A strategic electronic centre will be established in Bangalore, he said, adding, the JV will become a centre of excellence for global business for both.

"Cassidian strategy is to become a local player with global reach. India is a strategic country and is a leader in IT and Electronic software based technology", CEO Cassidian Electronics, Bernd Wenzler, said.

Kotwal said L & T, which manufactured the first Pinaka Multi Barrel Rocket launcher, would soon start the process to manufacture the second rocket launcher.

He said his company has order book worth hundreds of crores of rupees and Pinaka barrel rocket launcher is the single order valued over Rs 172 crore. However, he declined to quantify the order book of his firm.

Certain projects it has been working with DRDO would continue, he said in response to a query.