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 In a fiscal of acquisitions and venturing into new areas, the city based conglomerate Murugappa Group had posed 35.8 per cent growth in turnover and 24 per cent growth in after tax profits. Last fiscal the group had announced investments of about Rs 648.9 crore for acquisitions and new ventures.

According to the Murugappa Group, it had logged a turnover of Rs 74,220 crore (previous year Rs 54,648 crore) and a profit after tax of Rs 6,846 crore (Rs 5,520 crore).

The Group has 29 businesses, including several listed and unlisted companies like Carborundum Universal Ltd., CG Power and Industrial Solutions Ltd., Cholamandalam Financial Holdings Ltd., Cholamandalam Investment and Finance Company Ltd., Coromandel International Ltd., E.I.D. Parry (India) Ltd., Shanthi Gears Ltd., Tube Investments of India Ltd. and Wendt (India) Ltd., Coromandel Engineering Company Ltd., Cholamandalam MS General Insurance Company Ltd., Parry Agro Industries Ltd and others.

During the year under review Tube Investments of India Limited, through its 100 per cent subsidiary Tl Clean Mobility Private Limited (TICMPL), has acquired:

i)  a 65.2 per cent stake in  IPLTech Electric private Limited ('IPLT') with an investment of Rs 246 crore. IPLT is a startup engaged in manufacturing and sale of electric heavy commercial vehicles.

ii) a 30.04 per cent additional stake in Cellestial E-Mobility Private Limited ('Cellestial') for a consideration of Rs 50.9 crore. Cellestial is a startup company engaged in design and development of electric tractors. TICMPL owned 69.96 per cent in Cellestial before the additional stake purchase. With this transaction, Cellestial has become a 100 per cent subsidiary of TICMPL.

On its own Tube Investments of India acquired:

-- 50 per cent stake in  X2Fuels and Energy Private Limited (X2Fuels) for an investment of Rs 6.15 crore. X2Fuels is a startup company engaged in developing processes to convert waste to liquid/solid fuels;

--  76 per cent stake in  Moshine Electronics Private Limited (Moshine), for a consideration of Rs 7.38 crore. Moshine is a company engaged in manufacturing and sale of camera modules for mobile phones.

Tube Investments of lndia also formed a subsidiary for pursuing the CDMO (Contract Development and Manufacturing Organization) business investing up to Rs 285 crore.

The company along with Pl Opportunities Fund I Scheme ll (Premji lnvest) acquired Lotus Surgicals Private Limited (Lotus) from lndia Medical Consumables Holdings Limited (a Samara Capital entity) and other shareholders of Lotus.  

Tube Investments of India acquired 67 per cent stake for Rs.233 crore in Lotus.

Similarly Dare Ventures Ltd., a corporate venture capital arm of Coromandel International Limited, that invests in early and growth stage start-up companies has invested:

-- Rs10 crore in Ecozen Solutions Private Ltd. (Ecozen), a climate-smart deep tech startup.  Ecozen develops climate-smart deep tech solutions and core technology stacks to deliver a sustainable future, including motor controls, IoT, and energy storage.

-- Rs16.5 crore in String Bio Private Ltd. (String Bio), a Bengaluru based biotech startup. String Bio leverages its technology platform to offer high quality products and ingredients for agriculture, animal nutrition, human nutrition, and personal care sectors.

-- Rs 40 crore in Dhaksha Unmanned Systems Private Ltd. (Dhaksha), in two tranches of Rs 20 crore each. Dhaksha, one of the forerunners in the drone space in India, provides a complete range of Unmanned Aerial Systems (UAS) technology solutions for different applications covering agriculture, defence, surveillance and delivery, among others.

The market capitalization of the 10 listed companies of the group aggregated to Rs 2,25,320 crore as of March 31, 2023 (previous year Rs1,78,412 crore).