The second global production facility of York Transport Equipment (Asia) Pte Ltd of Singapore — a subsidiary of the Jamshedpur-headquartered TRF Ltd— is going to be set up in India by the end of 2008-09.

York Transport Equipment is engaged in the business of manufacturing and distributing trailer undergears and trailer components and has a presence in 27 countries. The proposed manufacturing facility would be set up under the York India umbrella, according to Mr Sudhir Deoras, Managing Director, TRF Ltd.

Possible location

The Tata Strategic Management Group has undertaken a study to determine the size of the market for York products in India, its growth potential, and so on. The location of York's manufacturing facility in India, however, is yet to be decided. "We need to be where the trailer manufacturers are located. One possible location could be the Mumbai-Delhi corridor," Mr Deoras told Business Line.

According to him, with growth in the economy and expansion of the road infrastructure in the country, movement of trailers was bound to go up. As such, this offered great scope for business growth of companies such as York Transport Equipment.

Mr Deoras said TRF Ltd - which is in the business of engineered equipment, systems and services for bulk material handling systems, steel plant systems, coal beneficiation systems, and so on - has acquired 51 per cent of the equity stake in York Transport Equipment with a call and put option in place for acquiring the balance 49 per cent by April 2010. Consequent to the acquisition of the 51 per cent equity stake in York Transport, TRF has also taken over the management of the company.

At present, around Rs 15 crore worth of York products are sold in India annually under the York brand. It is hoped that, within the next three years, sales of York products would generate revenue of "at least Rs 200 crore" for York India, Mr Deoras said.