BEML enters Brazil with JV to build assembly plant

Public sector Bharat Earth Movers Ltd (BEML) has signed a memorandum of understanding with Brazils Compagnie Comercio E Construcoes (CCC) to establish a joint venture to manufacture and supply rail wagons and carriages, and the entire range of mining and construction equipment and spares.

The Indian PSU will hold a 60-per cent stake in the proposed JV.

BEML will invest Rs100 crore by taking over a factory on the outskirts of Rio-de-Janeiro city in Brazil. The factory has facilities and adequate infrastructure to take up manufacturing equipment in the near future with a capacity of rolling out 500 wagons and over 200 earthmoving equipments and spares annually.

BEML expects the entry in to Brazil would enable it to consolidate its position in the construction and mining machines and railway products sectors in mineral-rich Brazil — the largest South American country. BEML plans to use this JV to penetrate new rail and road logistics segments in the Latin American region.

The MoU signed by V R S Natarajan, chairman and managing director, BEML, who was visiting Brazil as part of the Indian delegation accompanying the prime minister, and Darci Rodrigues, proprietor, CCC. Present at the signing ceremony were Dr Manmohan Singh and Brazillian president Luiz Inacio Lula Da Silva on September 12, 2006.