Chennai, Feb 9 (IANS) Buoyed by the expansion plans of the Indian automobile industry and an increased demand from abroad, Rs.2.7 billion iron castings firm Nelcast Limited plans to expand its capacity to 150,000 tonnes of cast iron products for motor vehicles and parts per annum by 2008.

Nelcast, whose exports are currently about $5 million per annum, is one of the largest producers of spheroidal graphite (SG) iron castings in India. It is also a crucial supplier to commercial vehicle and tractor industries.

Nelcast began as an ancillary to the Tamil Nadu-based manufacturer Ashok Leyland and has two foundries.

The plant at Gudur, in Andhra Pradesh, began in 1985 with a capacity of 1,200 tonnes per annum (TPA). The second foundry at Ponneri in Tamil Nadu was established in 1996.

The capacity of its two foundries together has now reached 102,000 TPA, company officials said here.

The company has been continuously making profits and said its profitability has been on the rise with steady volume increase. "The auto component industry is poised to jump its exports to $5.9 billion in 2008-09 fiscal and Nelcast hopes to contribute to this growth," the company said in a release here.

To facilitate this growth, it has established a subsidiary in Chicago, US, the company said.

Nelcast is also a leading supplier to Indian commercial vehicle manufacturers like Tata Motors, Ashok Leyland, Eicher Motors and Tata Cummins and to tractor manufacturers like TAFE, Mahindra & Mahindra and International Tractors.