Mr Jatkar, who was in Hyderabad to announce the launch of `Flame Retardant' PVC cables, said that the optical fibre cable capacity in Mysore will be expanded to 4,30,000 fibre kilometres from the existing 1,80,000 fibre kilometres to meet the ongoing demand. It will be operational from September, 2001, he added. Simultaneously, RPG Cables will be also putting up balancing equipment for jeely filled cables with an investment of Rs 5 crore to meet the customers demand for product-mix change and also create capability for exports, Mr Jatkar said.

Apart from that, the company is also expanding its `Flame Retardant' housing wire cables capacity by manufacturing 30,000 coils in Mysore per annum, 20,000 coils per annum in Calcutta and 20,000 coils per annum in Silvasa with an additional investment of Rs 6 crore put together, he said.

According to him, the industry is consolidating now. The larger players are expected to look at small players. However, we have no plan at the moment to acquire any sick or small companies.

Earlier, launching the `Flame Retardant', VK Bajaj, vice-president, said the company has changed the safety standards in electrical wires from normal PVC to FR PVC. This cable will meet the growing demand for high quality cables in domestic and commercial complexes and also the industrial lighting segment.

The conductors of this able are insulated with a specially formulated FR grade PVC compound having high insulation resistance and di-electric strength. The market for this particular product is estimated Rs 1,000 crore, he said.