Elcome Marine Services,India’s only private naval systems integration company, aims to boost revenue by fivefold over the next five years as warship demands rise for the Indian Navy and Coast Guard.
Established in 1978, Mumbai-based Elcome Marine is India’s only small-sector company that integrates navigation, communication, surveillance and weapon systems for ships and submarines. The company’s revenue is $20 million, so a fivefold boost would bring it to $100 million by 2017.
In June 2010, Elcome Marine and Orbit of Israel, serving as subcontractors to state-owned Bharat Electronics, won a $20 million order to provide 154 satellite communication systems to the Indian Navy. The company has already installed 35% of the systems and the rest will be completed by 2014.
Elcome Marine with technology partner Orbit is delivering and installing very-small-aperture-terminal antennas for the Indian Navy. In a first for an Indian company, Elcome Marine has ventured into a large-scale project involving the installation and maintenance of radio frequency systems, along with the installation of networked operations and video conferencing for the satellite communication project.
In addition, Elcome is supplying radars and inertial navigation systems for the country’s submarine fleet.
Elcome is the only private company that creates turnkey communications solutions for the Indian Navy.
The company was selected last year as an offset partner by Kangnam shipyard in South Korea for providing an integrated bridge system for India’s mine countermeasure vessel project.
Most smaller Indian companies face challenges in picking up multiple orders because of higher corporate borrowing in India, including interest rates that only large companies can afford. The government does not have any defense financing schemes.
Some of the homemade products the company is manufacturing for the Indian Navy and Coast Guard include sound-powered telephones, weather-sensor and flood alarm systems, and a universal navigation system.
With headquarters in Mumbai, the waterfront support systems are based in Mumbai, Kolkata, Vizag, Chennai, Port Blair, Kochi, Goa and Jamnagar.