By IANS
Bangalore : DustVen Ltd, the Bangalore-based environmental engineering firm, has expanded its production capacity by setting up its second manufacturing facility on the outskirts of the city to meet the surging demand for air pollution control (APC) equipment from large and medium industries.
The new plant at Dobaspet, built at a cost of Rs.60 million, has an installed capacity to manufacture a range of APC products equivalent to 400 tonnes per month, per shift, as against 25 tonnes per month in the first plant located in the Peenya industrial area.
“With the commissioning of the second plant, we will be able to not only scale up the production, but also reduce dependence on third-party vendors from whom we have been sourcing the equipment to meet the industry demand,” DustVen managing director Bail Bharat told reporters here Wednesday.
Due to the limited production capacity of the first plant, the privately held company has been sourcing additional equipment from five to six vendors over the last three-four years for serving its big-ticket customers and the replacement market.
“The burgeoning growth of manufacturing and infrastructure sectors and increasing compliance of environmental regulations by industries have fuelled the demand for our APC equipment over the last couple of years.
“Strict enforcement of anti-pollution laws by the state agencies, growing concern for ecological protection, judicial activism and intervention by the NGOs have compelled the defaulters to invest in APC equipment,” Bharat noted.
Besides meeting the requirements of the large industries, the company will target small and medium enterprises (SMEs) across the country to sell its APC products. As majority of the SMEs are yet to comply with the pollution control regulations, the potential for sales is immense.
“We are also looking at exporting in mature markets such as the US, Europe and Southeast Asia to capitalise on the demand and the cost-advantage we have over competitors in these regions,” Bharat pointed out.
Growing at 100 percent during the last two fiscals, the company is projecting a sales turnover of Rs.400 million for 2007-08, against Rs.200 million in 2006-07.
As per the estimates made by Frost & Sullivan research agency, the APCE industry is poised to touch Rs.9.6 billion ($240 million) by 2009-10 as against Rs.6.7 billion ($168 million) posted in 2005-06.