Flowserve president and chief executive Bernard G Rethore said in Chennai that talks were on with the Sanmar group for the joint venture but declined to give any details on investments in the project. Flowserve has a sales revenue of $450 million from pumps alone.

Sanmar group chairman N Shankar said details of the joint venture is expected to be finalised within two months. He said investments will be small but the project will have backing from Flowserve who are worldclass leaders in technology for pumps used in the petroleum sector.

Rethore and Shankar met in Chennai on the occasion of dedication of expanded and modernised manufacturing facility of their existing 24-year-long joint venture Durametallic Sanmar Ltd(Dura) which manufactures high quality mechanical seals under the brand name "Dura Seals."

Speaking to press persons Shankar said that Dura has in the last 1.5 years made an investment of Rs 7 crore for modernisation and revamping of manufacturing processes to suit requirements of Flowserve which intends to use the facility at Karapakkam in Chennai for global sourcing of mechanical seals.

According to Shankar, the market for mechanical seals in the country is estimated to be around Rs 100 crore. The industry, which was posting a 10-12 per cent growth until two years ago, is in doldrums because of recession and current growth is put at 2 to 3 per cent. But Dura has established itself as a leading supplier of the mechanical seals to process industries and commands a market leadership of around 30 per cent. Its sales for the current year is put at Rs 30 crore with a further Rs 6 crore coming from exports.

But with expansion and modernisation, Dura has shifted its focus to exports and global sourcing fromjoint venture partner Flowserve. The company now is targeting a turnover of Rs 80 crore in three years, with 50 per cent coming from exports. The optimism stems from the fact that some $150 million of Flowserve's mechanical seals sales of $350 million come from outsourcing. This is the potential which Dura the joint venture wants to exploit in the long run.

Rethore was optimistic about the joint venture continuing to provide quality products for Flowserve's global sourcing plans.