French power equipment supplier Alstom said on Thursday it will expand its manufacturing facilities in India to meet the growing demand in thermal and hydro projects and is eyeing emerging opportunities in the nuclear power sector.
"India is a key market for Alstom. We are expanding our plants at Durgapur, Shahabad and Vadodara to meet rising demand," Phillipe Joubert, president of Alstom's power division worldwide, told reporters in New Delhi.
The company will be expanding its existing facilities but had no plans to set up a greenfield unit, he said. Joubert, however, declined to commit any investment figures.
Alstom, which has a tie-up with state-run Bharat Heavy Electricals Ltd for 800 MW supercritical boilers, would manufacture some components for these units at Durgapur and Shahabad plants, he said.
BHEL's Trichy plant will also be making these boilers under the technology transfer agreement spanning 15 years.
Asked whether Alstom was in talks with power generation major NTPC Ltd, which has recently forayed into equipment manufacture, Joubert replied in the negative.
The French company, which has a listed subsidiary in the country Alstom Projects India Ltd, is looking at the opportunities in the nuclear power sector in anticipation of the India-US civilian nuclear cooperation agreement.
Joubert said the company have had discussions with state-owned Nuclear Power Corporation of India Ltd for equipment supply.
"We do not supply reactors, but other conventional parts of a nuclear plant. We are looking at it," he said.
APIL currently has an order book of Rs 2,100 crore (Rs 21 billion), most of which is for hydroelectric projects, and is expecting a revenue of about Rs 1,000 crore (Rs 10 billion) this fiscal.
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