MUMBAI, May 22: Thermax has entered into a 50:50 joint venture with Culligan International, a leader in water treatment, to form a new entity, Thermax Culligan Water Technologies. The Pune-based joint venture has a paid up capital of Rs 14 crore with an intitial investment of Rs 28 crore.

Thermax managing director Abhay Nalawade said here on Thursday that Thermax Culligan was targeting a turnover of Rs 100 crore turnover by the third year of operations. The new company will manufacture and sell a wide range of water treatment products targeted at the domestic commercial and industrial markets.

According to Nalawade, the product range will include domestic water purifiers, five gallon bottled water with attractive water dispensers for use in offices and commercial establishments and pure drinking water machines at railway stations and other public places. The five gallon bottled water will be priced at Rs 50, he added.

Nalawade said the two newly introduced products include an ozone based water purifier for households and a high capacity ultraviolet disinfection system for commercial establishments.

Thermax chairperson Anu Aga said in the industrial segment, the joint venture would concentrate on water treatment systems for boiler feed water, cooling water and process water used in pharmaceutical, textile and electronic industries. Reverse osmosis plants for treatment of brackish and saline water will also be offered.

Culligan president Simon Boyd said Thermax Culligan would provide a wide range of safe water products to meet the needs at home, in transit and at work. "After establishing a quality service network in India, we will export to Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Indonesia, the Philippines, Malaysia, South America and East Africa," he added.

Nalawade said that the first hitech bottled water plant would come up soon at Taloja using Culligan's unique 7-stage purification process. The plant with an investment of Rs 7 crore will have a production capacity of 450 bottles per hour. Five more plants will also be set up in a phased manner.

Nalawade said the new company had a comprehensive marketing and advertising plans using educational and legislative methods to reach out to the customers. "The company will also go in for direct selling," he added. It will set up seven "hubs" in major cities, which will be supplied by manufacturing units in multiple locations. He added that the company would also work towards putting in place a certification process to ensure quality and safety of products.

Copyright © 1997 Indian Express Newspapers (Bombay) Ltd.