(From left) H. Fujikawa, chief operating officer of steel energy division of Metal One, Daisuke Hatakake, president of Kubota Corporation, T. Mukherjee, chairman of Tata Metaliks, and Harsh K. Jha, MD of Tata Metaliks, in Calcutta on Friday. Picture by Kishor Roy Chowdhury

Calcutta, July 20: Kubota Corporation of Japan wants to expand its footprint in India by manufacturing farm and infrastructure machinery in the country.

The $11-billion company today inked a joint venture agreement with Tata Steel subsidiary Tata Metaliks Ltd to build a ductile iron pipe plant at Kharagpur in Bengal.

A senior official of Japan’s Metal One Corporation was also present at the signing ceremony.

“The success of this venture will determine our future in India and shape our strategy,” Daisuke Hatakake, president of Kubota Corporation, said.

Kubota is a leading player in tractor globally. It has a 40 per cent market share for tractors under 40 horse power.

The investment in the first phase of the joint venture is Rs 150 crore with a production target of 110,000 tonnes a year.

The unit, which will use liquid pig iron from the mini blast furnace of Tata Metaliks, is likely to be operational by the fourth quarter of 2008-09.

Tata Metaliks will have a 51 per cent stake in the JV company, Tata Metaliks Kubota Pipes Ltd. Kubota and Metal One will own 44 per cent and 5 per cent respectively.

Kubota is the world leader in DI pipe manufacturing. It also exports a sizeable chunk of its produce. Metal One exports some of Kubota’s products.

“This JV will also export a part of the produce. We will be involved in that,” H. Fujikawa, chief operating officer of the steel energy division of Metal One, said.

T. Mukherjee, chairman of Tata Metaliks, said there was immense opportunity before this company since the demand for DI pipe was growing at a healthy rate.

DI pipes are used to distribute drinking water in cities. There is a rise in the demand for DI pipes with growing urbanisation and strengthening of infrastructure. At present, DI pipe demand is growing by 18 per cent annually.

Mukherjee said the capacity at Kharagpur could be raised up to 250,000 tonnes.

Tata Metaliks has come out with a good set of numbers in the first quarter with profit after tax rising by 50 per cent over the corresponding period last year.