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Follow UsUsha Beltron Ltd’s (UBL) Cable
Division did good business last fiscal after a bad 1997-98. This company, specializing in
Jelly Filled Telecom Cables (JFTC), posted a turnover of Rs 243.9 crore in 1998-99,
recording a modest growth of 6 percent over the Rs 230 crore turnover in 1997-98. Owing to
the boost in the telecom scenario in the country, the stock of Usha Beltron also
experienced a little hike. The price of the scrip on 1 April 1998 was Rs 55.50, which went
up to Rs 88.50 on 31 March 1999, a variance of nearly 60 percent. The highest the share
price went was Rs 106 during the year, with the lowest at Rs 36.10.
Prashant K Jhawar
Year Of Start-up: 1956
Area Of Operation: Telecom cables
Address: 2A, Shakespeare Sarani, Calcutta – 700071
Tel.: 033-2825441/5484/8540/8545
Fax: 91-33-2821971/2283
At the start of last fiscal, the scenario
for the cable industry looked bleak, but due to huge orders from the DoT during the OND
quarter, it changed. Hence, most of the business that UBLdid was in the last two quarters
of the fiscal 1998-99. The DoT accounted for more than 95 percent of the company’s
turnover. Usha Beltron merged with Usha Martin Industries, the flagship of Usha Martin
Group. Currently, Bihar State Electronics Development Corp and Kabel Rhydt (part of the
Alcatel group) do not hold any shares in the company, which have been acquired by Usha
Martin Industries Ltd and its associates.
The company last year focussed on two main
activities. The first was expansion of production due to the bright outlook for the cable
industry. With basic services being thrown open to private sector and with the DoT aiming
to double its current number of lines, the demand for JFTC skyrocketed. UBL also went to
acquire cheap assets of other cable companies, which were available because of the over
capacity in the previous years. UBL also plans to get into turnkey cable service projects.
The company currently manufactures JFTC at
its plant in Ranchi. The plant commenced production in 1998 and manufactured 36 lakh cable
kilometre (lckm) for 1998-99. This was a 23 percent increase over the previous year’s
production of 29 lckm. The plant has an installed capacity of 55 lckm. Apart from this,
the Group is presently focussing on setting up of a state-of-the-art JFTC plant at
Silvassa through a wholly owned subsidiary. The first phase of the new plant is being
built at a cost of Rs 40 crore and is expected to produce 18 lckm of JFTC. The plant,
which was to have commenced operations in September this year, is expected to go on
production in December and will employ around 100 people. The company may consider
manufacturing coaxial and other data communication cables in the second phase. This phase
is expected to start by 2000 end.
Lastly, UBL focussed on getting its costs
right. Apart from cutting overhead costs, the company also focussed on rationalizing
manpower hours. The Group’s workforce has been reduced to 4,147 in 1999 from 4,533 in
the previous year. Stronger focus on asset utilization and quality improvement has
resulted in higher output without increasing installed capacities. The combination of all
these efforts has helped UBL to counter the weak price trends and report better profits
last year.
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