ICSA

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   From Business Standard dated 07 Aug 2010

ICSA eyes Rs 1000-cr Scada orders

ICSA (India) Limited, a Hyderabad-based provider of embedded software solutions and infrastructure deployment services for the power sector, is expecting to have an orderbook of Rs 1,000 crore from the supervisory control and data acquisition (Scada) bids in the next financial year.

ICSA, along with its Chinese partner Dongfang, has been empanelled as one of the 14 Scada implementation agencies by the Power Finance Corporation (PFC), which has earmarked approximately Rs 2,500 crore for the purpose, to be exhausted before 2012. Depending on the size of the state, PFC allocates anywhere between Rs 200 crore and Rs 350 crore per state.

 “Bids from Gujarat and Rajasthan governments are expected to be floated in a month's time, while 10 more states will call for tenders in the second half of the current fiscal. We are targeting about 10 states and are hopeful to get six states. Besides, there are standalone Scada orders available by state electricity boards and private companies, which we will bid for,” G Bala Reddy, chairman and managing director of ICSA, told Business Standard.

Stating that the company had embarked on a huge business plan comprising bidding for Scada, enhancing focus on above 132kv distribution, automatic metre reading, theft detection and RTUs (remote terminal units), which is a key part of Scada implementation, Reddy said the company recently took an enabling resolution from its shareholders to raise up to Rs 2,000 crore.

“We have already reached fund-based and non-fund-based limits of Rs 1,300 crore. Once the Scada bids are rolled out, we will require a lot of working capital and bank guarantees. We will go for fund-raising from commercial banks as and when required,” he said, adding they were in the process of increasing the promoter holding from the current 20.8 per cent to 27 per cent within the next 18 months through issue of 4 million fully-convertible warrants with an exercise price of Rs 145 per share.

The company recently commissioned its smart energy meter (SEM) manufacturing plant on the outskirts of Hyderabad with a capacity of 1.8 million units per year.

Reddy said the installed base of meters in India was currently pegged at 142 million and the industry expected an addition of 100 million, both replacement of existing meters and new ones, in the next five years. “This (SEM) is the new area which will add up to out technology business,” he said.

The company was below the distribution value-chain till last year. From this year, it would focus on above 132kv units.