After acquiring Australian coal mining company Griffin, Lanco Infratech is now betting big on the solar business. The company is looking at USD 300 million of annual revenue from its solar SEZ and hopes to list its solar biz in two years, reports CNBC-TV18’s Mehak Kasbekar and Malvika Jain.
It is all stones and boulders now but this is where India's first solar SEZ is set to take shape. Lanco Infratech plans to invest Rs 3000 crore to set up a solar photovoltaic manufacturing unit over 250 acres at Rajnandgaon, Raipur in the state of Chattisgarh. The SEZ will have an annual manufacturing capacity of 250 Mw photovoltaic cells and aims to meet 15% of India's demand for solar energy equipment. But the big bucks will flow in from abroad, as the company plans to export 50% of the equipment at competitive prices to Europe and USA.
L Madhusudhan Rao, Chairman, Lanco Infratech said, "Solar for us is an independent company. That is how we want to position this company. We want to bring in this independence from 2-3 yrs from today. at some point of time we may separate this and list this."
The project, being funded with a 75:25 debt-equity ratio, involves an initial investment of 1,370 crore rupees in the first phase that is expected to be completed in 15 months. The manufacturing unit shall be fully commissioned by 2014.
Rao said, "Gas today has become little bit tricky. There is going to be 50-60 mmscmd of gas available in the next 3-4 yrs and we don't see much scope beyond that in short to medium term.”
The company is restructuring its business to create a separate power vertical. Lanco has a long-term plan to increase its power generation capacity from nearly 2,100 MW to 15,000 mw by 2015. The company may also look at listing the arm soon.
