Jayalalithaa Opens Toshiba Manufacturing in India

Toshiba JSW Turbine and Generator, a 75:25 joint venture between Japan-based Toshiba Corporation and India’s leading business group JSW, inaugurated its super critical steam turbine and generator manufacturing facility in Chennai on Sunday, Feb. 12.

The main plant was inaugurated in the presence of the Selvi J Jayalalithaa, Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu, an Indian state.

The new manufacturing facility will produce high-efficiency steam turbines and generators for super critical thermal power plants, in generating capacities ranging from 500MW to 1000MW.

The plant will have an annual production capacity of 3000MW by the end of FY2012. It will form a major manufacturing hub serving the global markets, alongside Toshiba’s manufacturing base in Japan, says the company.

Toshiba JSW also announced plans to double manufacturing capacity to 6000MW by FY2015, when it will aim for US$400 million in sales. Its initial production will be shipped to customers in India, and subsequent output will also be exported to emerging economies of Southeast Asia and the Middle East.

The expansion will also see Toshiba JSW increase its employee base in India to 500 over the next three years, from around 200 today.

Construction of the manufacturing facility with a floor area of around 60,000 square meters, commenced in February 2010 on a 400,000 square meters plot close to Ennore in Chennai. The plant includes a blade manufacturing shop that was completed in January 2011 and now produces specialized turbine blades.

“We at Toshiba are delighted to celebrate the official inauguration of this important facility, which we position as an essential hub to sustain the long-term growth of our global thermal power plant system business. I believe this facility will also contribute to strengthening the ever-growing ties between our countries, and allow us to contribute to the dynamic development of the Indian economy through our technologies, manufacturing and employment creation,” said Norio Sasaki, president and CEO of Toshiba Corporation.

Driven by strong economic growth, the Indian power generation equipment market is expected to see a demand growth of more than 16,000MW per year in the decade from 2007 to 2017.

Coal-fired thermal power projects will account for over 60 percent of this projected capacity growth. The global market is also expected to see continued growth in demand for thermal power generation equipment in growing markets, to about 84,000MW per annum by the year 2020.

Toshiba was founded in 1875, and today operates a global network of more than 490 companies, with 203,000 employees worldwide and annual sales surpassing 6.3 trillion yen (US$77 billion).

JSW Group, a part of the USD 15 billion O.P. Jindal Group, is one of the leading business groups. It has diversified interest in steel, power, cement, mining, port and infrastructure.

In the picture above: Norio Sasaki, president, Toshiba Corporation, Japan Selvi J. Jayalalithaa, Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu, Sajjan Jindal, chairman & managing director, JSW Group, Mumbai.