Mitsubishi JV to expand presence

Tag: industrial cutting machine Mitsubishi Corporation, a global trading firm based in Japan, which recently formed a joint venture with the Coimbatore-based Rs 300 crore machine tool company, Craftsman Automation, to market and service its wide range of industrial machines in India, is looking at the northern and Western parts of the country for expansion. The new JV, MC Craftsman Machinery, in which Mitsubishi holds a 70 per cent stake, has opened branches in Delhi, Mumbai and Pune. The company so far was focussing on South India. The JV, which commenced its operations in January this year, is looking at a turnover in excess of Rs 20 crore from the sale of 40 Electric Discharge Machines in the first year and double the sales in the second year of operations. In addition to this, the company is also aiming to sell around 10 laser-cutting machines. During the last two years, Mitsubishi has sold 55 machines in south India. Its major clients in India include NTTF, Mastercraft and GTTC. The first batch of fully-built machines are expected to arrive later this month from Nagoya, Japan. Said Ashwani K Datta, Vice President, of this JV, "We have just commenced our JV operations in India. We will continue to expand our service network here and depending on the market response, we will be setting up a manufacturing facility in India." The JV will offer industrial machinery Mitsubishi's range like electrical discharge machine, CNC wirecut machine, and Laser-cutting machine, made by Mitsubishi Electric Corporation along with machinery used in the field of die & mould, and sheet metal industry.