MIDHANI to be Part of Combat Aircraft Project

Mishra Dhatu Nigam Limited or ‘MIDHANI’ is looking forward to participating in the proposed manufacture of new aircraft engine for Advanced Multi-role Combat Aircraft (AMCA) to be built jointly by Aeronautical Development Establishment (ADE) and Gas Turbine Research Establishment (GTRE) — both Defence Research and Development Organisation bodies based in Bengaluru.

A high-level committee headed by NITI-Aayog member V.K. Saraswat is looking into the multi-crore project details. MIDHANI and Defence Metallurgical Research Laboratory (DMRL) will be involved in supply of specialised metal alloys like steel, titanium and nickel for making the main body parts and engine.

“The Government intends to start using GE machines to begin with and later on go for indigenously developed aircraft engines to the tune of 250. We expect work order of up to ₹500 crore,” disclosed MIDHANI chairman and managing director Dinesh Kumar Likhi to the media on Wednesday.

Giving details of the 45th annual general meeting held earlier in the day, Mr. Likhi said the firm has got most of its work orders from the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) of about ₹1,300 crore from ₹1,844 crore and the rest coming from defence ministry for this year. It has reported a turnover of ₹710.85 crore and a profit of ₹130.56 crore for 2018-19.

“We have been fully involved in the Chandrayaan programme and will play a key role in the upcoming Gaganyaan programme supplying material and components. We are also looking at export market actively and will set up warehouses at Dubai to cater to clients of Middle East and at Rotterdam (Netherlands) for those in Europe. This year we plan to have ₹40 crore worth of exports from ₹8 crore and in three years we aim to make exports 15% of our annual turnover,” he explained.

The firm has also successfully modernised its existing manufacturing facilities here by upgrading the forging and other equipment at a total cost of ₹200 crore. “This will help us scale up our annual production to ₹1,000 crore and more to cater to growing demand for specialised metals for our export market too,” he said.

Work on MIDHANI’s new ₹4,000 crore plant to make high-end aluminium alloy in a joint venture with Steel Authority of India Limited (SAIL) at Nellore has begun and it would take up to five years before production begins. Each of the firms would be investing up to ₹170 crore each and rest is to be raised through debt or with the help of a new partner.

It is also planning to set up an atomiser plant to make use of the 50% nickel metal scrap which can be turned into powder, dissolved and converted into pure metal again to make it a sustainable cycle. A helical compression springs plant here to cater to requirements of railways, metro coaches and earth moving equipment and an armouring unit at Rohtak is its other new plant coming up, the CMD added.

Source: The Hindu

Image Courtesy: MIDHANI