Calcutta, Sept. 17: Schwing GmbH, the 500 million-euro German ready-mix concrete and equipment manufacturer, is planning to make India its sourcing base for castings and forgings and an export hub for its boom pumps.

Schwing GmbH is currently manufacturing trailer pump, separate placing booms and truck-mounted pumps in China through a subsidiary catering to global exports.

The German conglomerate is now planning to gradually shift its export hub for smaller capacity (between 17 metre and 32 metre) pumps from China to India. In India, the company has a wholly owned subsidiary, Schwing Stetter India Pvt Ltd, set up in 1998 in Chennai.

Schwing Stetter India set up its first plant in Chennai in 2001 at an investment of Rs 25 crore to make batching plants, tower plants, ready-mix concrete and concrete mixing plants.

By the end of 2003, the company set up its second plant, at an investment of Rs 25 crore, exclusively to make truck-mounted mixers. The plant makes 200 truck-mounted mixers a month.

“We are planning to set up a third plant for manufacturing booms and pumps,” said V.G. Sakthi Kumar, vice-president (marketing) of Schwing Stetter India Pvt Ltd. Machinery orders to set up the plant have already been placed with the German parent and the plant was expected to come up by July next year, he added.

The third plant, which will be set up at an investment of Rs 25 crore, will also be located in Chennai over a 10-acre plot.

“Land acquisition is at an advanced stage,” said Kumar. “Our China subsidiary is not doing well and the manufacturing cost in India is also lower than in China. So, we have decided to shift our export hub to India from China over a period of time,” Kumar said.

The third plant will primarily cater to the exports market, he added. Schwing Stetter India has started exporting truck-mounted mixers components to the US and Europe from last year only.

“We are planning to introduce larger capacity concrete mixers and pumps, but for that we need large chasis trucks,” Kumar said, adding that the company has already started talking to truck manufacturers such as Tata Motors, Ashok Leyland and Man.

Schwing Stetter India clocked a turnover of Rs 300 crore last year and expected to cross the Rs 500-crore mark this year.

“We have set a turnover target of Rs 1,000 crore by 2008,” Kumar said. He hopes to post an export turnover of Rs 100 crore by 2008. In terms of value, the Indian subsidiary is the fourth largest among Schwing’s 12 manufacturing units across the world. Schwing Stetter has already got orders worth Rs 500 crore this year.

“Between January and July this year, we got orders for truck mixers worth Rs 200 crore. We have a backlog of Rs 300 crore,” Kumar said.