Last year, Brakes India has partnered ZF for the successful production of the first electric park brake (EPB) system in India. How do you see this partnerLast year, Brakes India has partnered ZF for the successful production of the first electric park brake (EPB) system in India. How do you see this partnership evolving in the light of the increasing focus on vehicle and passenger safety in our country?
Brakes India has been in a JV for over 50 years and we actively work to bring the right technologies to the market at the right time. The lag between global requirements and India is shrinking, which means that technology transfer is quicker, and our responsiveness is far quicker. EPB was one example of this, where ZF is the global leader and we see the potential to grow this business and provide a great value to the Indian customer base.
Recently, you have announced to invest about Rs.100 crore in expanding the capacity at the Naidupeta factory in Andhra Pradesh. Tell us more about this.
Brakes India has invested approximately Rs. 120 Cr in a greenfield site in Naidupeta. The Naidupeta project has started with the goal of increasing the product range at Brakes India. The line concept is a little different from what we have done in the past and enables us to produce slightly larger and more intricate castings. Starting off, this line will produce components for brake assemblies, turbo charger assemblies, certain commercial vehicle structural and engine parts as well as new orders that we have on the anvil. Based on the product mix, we expect to produce somewhere in the range of 12,000 MT of cast products from this new line. The industrial estate at Naidupeta has been designed for core manufacturing activities, with good infrastructure for roads, power and relatively easy access to ports. It has been relatively seamless to work with the government on approvals and commission our first project at Naidupeta. We are already evaluating further expansion of capacity at this site with an additional foundry line, which will come to the tune of Rs. 100 Cr. This will be more similar to our existing moulding lines and serve to augment capacity by an additional 24,000 MT.
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