New cables from Finolex

Usha Somayaji
14 November 2000

The Finolex group has initiated steps to cash in on the new generation needs in the automobile, IT and telecommunication sectors by introducing new generation cables, including foam skin cables for telephones, 105-degree auto cables for automobile harnesses, and hybrid coaxial cables for the IT/telecommunication convergence industry.

All the three new products will be manufactured at the company’s new unit at Verna, Goa, where a 30,000 lakh-cable-km unit has been in production since December 1999, making solid skin jelly filled telecom cables. The company will make fresh investments of Rs 200 crore into the new product lines.

"The rest of the world, including African countries, have switched over to foam skin cables which use 8 per cent less raw material, are more flexible and have better electric properties," says Mr. P.P. Chhabria, chairman of the Finolex group of industries. "India is now planning to switch over, with the new DoT specifications expected shortly."

Finolex expects to gain in other ways from this switchover, apart from the new demand coming from private sector operators and exports. It has already secured a $6.9 million order for foam skin cables from an African country.

The Department of Telecommunications alone has an annual requirement valued at Rs 3,000-3,500 crore. "The government is in a position to save Rs 500 crore through switching over to foam skin cables," says Mr Chhabria.

Finolex is even planning switching over its production at Urse, near Pune, from jelly filled telephone cables to foam skin cables by 2002, he adds, depending on the demand profile.