Power play

Mumbai, Feb. 23: The RPG group is planning to invest close to Rs 13,000 crore in the tyre, retail and power businesses in the next couple of years.

The group, which manufactures Ceat tyres, plans to invest Rs 600 crore to set up a radial tyre plant to ramp up capacity.

Group chairman Harsh Goenka said, “The company is expanding its radial capacity and has planned an investment of Rs 600 crore to set up a plant.”

Goenka, however, added that the group has not yet finalised the location and the capacity of the proposed plant. Funding for the project is expected to be a mix of debt and equity. “We will take a decision on the capacity and location in the next few months,” he added.

Similarly, in power, the group is planning to set up a 2000-mw thermal plant. Though the location has also not been decided, it could come up in Bengal, Jharkhand or Orissa.

Goenka said the group intends to sign a purchase agreement for coal with one of the state governments next fiscal.

The plant is expected to be set up within the next three years and the total investment could touch Rs 10,000 crore. Regarding a possible partnership for the power project, Goenka said the group could explore the possibility for value addition.

In retail too, the group has outlined an investment of Rs 1,000 crore on its retail venture, Spencer’s. The focus, he said, would be on expansion of Spencer's malls across the country. The RPG group, which clocked revenues of close to Rs 10,000 crore in 2005-06, hopes to end the current fiscal with about 25 per cent growth.

On the transmission and distribution business carried out by KEC International, Goenka said the company has an order book of Rs 3,000 crore. After serving the developing markets, it has now made a foray into developed markets like the US where it has formed a joint venture. “We have secured a small order in the US and hope to bag another soon,” he said.