Date:25/02/2006 URL: http://www.thehindubusinessline.com/2006/02/25/stories/2006022503811300.htm

Back DRDO to make servo valves

M. Somasekhar

Hyderabad , Feb. 24

In a new model, strategic material, which India cannot procure from global companies due to `export control regimes,' will selectively be made in the country under Government and company partnerships.

Servo valves, which have both strategic and civilian applications, would be the first experiment in this new mode called `GoCo,' being tried out by the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO).

Several companies, both from the public and private sector, have responded to the initiative, which involves an investment of about Rs 30-40 crore, said Dr V.K. Saraswat, one of the Chief Controllers (R&D) of DRDO. The manufacturing unit, to be set up on the outskirts of Hyderabad, willgo on stream in June. The DRDO would provide the initial funds and the private/public company would run it with a further scale-up and investments and market the product, Dr Saraswat told Business Line.

The DRDO has indigenously developed the technology to make servo valves. In addition to space, these valves find utility in machine tools, furnaces, ship controls, robotics and power plants, he said.

The idea behind the GoCo (Government-Company) concept is to select products, that India cannot get due to export control regimes, develop technology and make them at cost-effective prices. Outsourcing should be beneficial to DRDO and the company, which would get a strategic sector consumer and also a civilian market, he said.

The second venture to be taken up is an electro-mechanical actuation system.