APTDC -- a successful role model

By P. Vikram Reddy

HYDERABAD, JULY 10. The Andhra Pradesh Technology Development Centre (APTDC), a unique experiment of creating a one stop shop and `facilitator' for technology induction by small and medium enterprises (SMEs) is gradually establishing itself as a successful model for others to emulate, if one were to go by the number of projects it has offered consultancy since its inception.

Realising a modest but critical revenue of Rs.15 lakhs for the year ended March 2000 by offering consultancy to about 10 projects besides a number of smaller projects, it has also proven that it could be a commercially viable concept. Operating on a corpus fund of Rs.135 lakhs, it has already shown a profit of Rs.3 lakhs for the year! It became self-sustaining from the first year itself, as against the originally envisaged four to five years.

It has to its credit a number of small power plants (most of which are in the pipeline) using the Municipal Solid Waste (MSW). It is now assisting the Sriram Energy Systems Limited in setting up a 6 MW power plant based on MSW in Vijayawada at a cost of Rs.36 crores. The financial closure of this project is expected to be achieved by July end or August. It envisages handling of 225 tonnes per day of waste in Vijayawada and 280 tonnes from Guntur.

The APTDC is now the `facilitator' for Ms. RDF Power Projects which is setting up a 11 MW project (with gassification technology) at Autonagar on the outskirts of Hyderabad with an investment of Rs. 47 crores. It (RDF) has tied up with Renewable Energy Corporation Limited (RECL) of Australia for supply of the gassifier.

The APTDC is also pursuing similar plants in Vadodara, Bangalore, New Delhi and Mumbai, while it is a 6 MW plant in Vadodara, and 10 MW one in Mumbai, in Bangalore it is only a 500 tonne per day processing unit to produce fuel biquettes. So is the case in Delhi where it is a steam generation plant (in Okhla Industrial Estate).

It is also assisting in setting up integrated facilities for processing MSW to produce both compost and fuel in smaller towns like Tirupati and Cuddapah (150 tonnes per day capacities). Work on these is expected to start soon.

For six of the projects, technology is from TIFAC (Technology Information, Forecasting and Assisting Council), an autonomous body under the Department of Science and Technology (Government of India) while APTDC is the facilitator, says Mr.Anjan Das, Director, APTDC.

The APTDC, which took off in 1998-1999 with a Rs.135 lakh corpus, had Rs.100 lakhs coming from the Government of Andhra Pradesh, Rs.15 lakhs from the IDBI, and Rs.10 lakhs each from the ICICI and Small Industries Development Bank of India (SIDBI).

The concept mooted by the Chief Minister, Mr. N. Chandrababu Naidu, at a meeting of the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII), was to have a facilitator with joint backing from the Industry, R&D and Government, and as on date happens to be the only such pilot project in any State.

The silent strides it is making is reflected in the recent Biotechnology Policy of the State Government, which states that the APTDC will assist in Intellectual Property Rights (IPR) issues relating to biotechnology.

In an interesting development, the APTDC helped evolve a testing procedure to trace the presence of CFC in foam-rubberized coir mattresses produced by a private company. It did this by networking with a Department of Scientific and Industrial Research (DSIR) recognised private R&D unit (named ABR Organics). The ABR Organics, a speciality chemicals company, is promoted by a former scientist of ISRO.

It is now working for a company (Infinity EV Motors) to incorporate power electronic kits in a scooter to make it run on a battery in the most efficient way possible. In the process it is interacting with some of the scooter manufacturers for their association.

In addition, it is making efforts to offer its services to financial institutions for specialised evaluation of projects considered for funding. It also offers project monitoring support including technical assistance to the promoter. In association with UNIDO it also offers to conduct technology audit for companies to assess the strengths and weaknesses of various technology parameters and offer solutions to gaps.

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