Interview of Mr. J R Sapre in Business Standard

Q&A: J R Sapre, Director, KBL
Hrisikesh Joshi / Mumbai September 4, 2010, 0:00 IST
Kirloskar Brothers Ltd(KBL), a Rs2800 crore company based in Pune has a global presence in the field of water pump manufacturing. It is growing substantially in Latin America and South Africa. In Centenary year,  KBL undertook to become a global company. In a conversation with Hrisikesh Joshi, KBL Director JR Sapre reveals how the company is growing as an MNC, acquisitions, operations and KBL as a brand in water pumps segment.
Kirloskar Brothers has recently acquired Braybar Pumps of South Africa. Any plans for further acquisitions?
We were working with Braybar Pumps since the last seven to eight years. This close association has ultimately resulted into buying this company. In future, we are looking at Latin American market and evaluating opportunities. Distance-wise, South Africa is much closer to Latin American countries. This acquisition is KBL’s future plan of foraying into the Latin American market. We keep evaluating new companies for such acquisitions. In long range plan, our mission is to get space into top five companies in the world by 2015. Latin America is a developing market for us and we have got foot in this market. As market opens or expands, we think that it is a good opportunity for us. We already have a strong base in Europe.  

How will you describe global presence of KBL especially in Europe and USA? 
We are exporting pumps to European market from last 25 years and substantially a large player in this area. Africa is the major thirst for KBL. In UK, along with SPP Pumps, we have done some joint development programmes. In 2003, KBL acquired SPP Pumps in the UK along with its three manufacturing facilities in the UK, USA and South Africa. SPP has grown three times since its acquisition from 21 million pounds to 60 million pounds. KBL is growing substantially in UK, USA and Europe. Also, we have a company based in Amsterdam in Netherlands called KBE which is a marketing arm of KBL, Europe. We also have offices in Cairo, Nairobi, Dakar in Senegal, Miami in USA, Dubai and Latin America.

KBL has bagged many orders from state governments to install water pumps systems. Please elaborate.
There is a substantial growth in domestic market for water pumps as irrigation is an important aspect. We got orders from states like Andhra Pradesh, Gujarat, Maharashtra Uttar Pradesh and Orissa. These states are investing heavily for water supply and irrigation. Since the last two years, KBL is concentrating on Andhra Pradesh projects as the government is investing more in pumping stations. Orissa has tremendous amount of water but little irrigation facilities. So the talks are on with Orissa government. Other states like Bihar and Uttar Pradesh are also investing more in water supply and irrigation.   

What is the size of your order book as far as these government projects are concerned?
Andhra Pradesh government is investing a lot in pumping stations. We have got orders from Andhra Pradesh government worth of Rs1500 crore and Rs200 crore from the government of Karnataka. Further, there are orders from all the other states, the total size of order book is Rs3500 crore.   

KBL as a brand in water pumps segment.....
We are the largest water pump manufacturer in India ever since it is formed. Our nearest competitors are not able to catch up with us in last 50 years. The brand has a tremendous value and different  kind of respect all over the world . A month back in a seminar in South Africa, a professor from South African University told that in Egypt a pump is called 'Kirloskar' and the name is associated with the pumps so closely. It is very well known in Africa. You will never find people complaining about our product. Wherever Kirloskars have gone, they got support in many countries and helped to build India as a brand.

What about your newly formed company Kirloskar Systech? 
This is a  wholly owned subsidiary of KBL and will primarily engage in system engineering, designing and support services. As we did not have any separate entity to take care of system engineering, KBL has formed this new company to focus on system engineering.