Raw optic fibre from Finolex
By Usha Somayaji | 25 May 2000
The Finolex group of industries is putting up a backward integration plant to make raw optic fibre. The company hitherto was making optic fibre cables using imported fibre at the company, Lucent Technologies Finolex Ltd, for the past three years. The company, to be renamed Finolex Technologies Ltd, will now also make the raw optic fibre directly from silica.
Lucent Technologies Finolex was a 49:51 joint venture between the Finolex group and Lucent Technologies The Finolex group bought over the company this January, and is now changing the name to Finolex Technologies Ltd.
The Rs 100 crore project, to be put up at Urse near Pune,where the company manufactures the fibre optic cable, and where its flagship company, Finolex Cables, also has its manufacturing unit, will make five million km fibre optic per year, in the first phase.
"So far, we had been importing raw fibre for making the fibre optic cables. Now we will make our own fibre," says group chairman P.P. Chhabria. The project would make use of a patent expired technology to make the fibre from silica.
The project, to be put up in 2000-01, is expected to begin production by 2001-02.
