TN govt signs MoU with Caparo Engineering

CHENNAI: Tamil Nadu Government on Wednesday signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Caparo Engineering India Pvt Ltd for setting up a Rs 40-crore stamping unit at the State Industries Promotion Corporation (SIPCOT) park at Nilakottai in Dindigul district.

Caparo Engineering, a subsidiary of UK-based Caparo Group founded by leading NRI industrialist Lord Swraj Paul, has proposed to set up the unit in 20 acres of land in two phases.

About 400 people, 250 directly and the rest indirectly, are expected to get employment there and the operations are expected to commence by October 2009, an official release here said.

Meanwhile, another MoU was signed with Fenner (India) Ltd to set up a plant to manufacture belts (V-Belts, Ploy V-Belts and Timing Belts) in the same park.

The Fenner plant is likely to be operational in an year. The company had made investments of around Rs 200 crore in Tamil Nadu, it said, adding that the new facility was expected to provide 150 direct and 150 indirect jobs.

The MoUs were signed by SIPCOT and top officials of the respective companies for allotment of land and project facilitation in the presence of Local Administration Minister M K Stalin and Industries Secretary Shaktikanta Das.

Chairman and Managing Director of SIPCOT, N Govindan, signed the MoUs with Sunil Pahilajani, managing director and chief executive officer of Caparo Engineering India Pvt Ltd, and L Ramkumar, president and director of Fenner (India).