Tokyo: Japan's Toshiba Corp said today that it had agreed to tie up with India's JSW Group to manufacture and market steam turbines and generators for thermal power plants in India.

Toshiba and JSW, which is part of OP Jindal Group, plan to invest about $250mn in plant and manufacturing equipment for the joint venture, which will be owned 75 per cent by Toshiba and 25 per cent by JSW.

Manufacturing operations are expected to start in September 2009, the Japanese company said in a statement.

The deal will give Toshiba "a firm foothold in the rapidly growing Indian market for thermal power generation," executive vice president Atsuhiko Izumi said in a statement.

"We want to rapidly build up our presence in a fast growing market," he added.

Toshiba last year won a large contract to supply five large super-critical steam turbines and generators to India's Tata Power.

The Japanese group has positioned energy as one of its core businesses. It bought US nuclear plant maker Westinghouse Electric from British Nuclear Fuels in 2006 in one of the largest Japanese overseas acquisitions in years.
Source : PTI