Deputy Chief Minister Mallu Bhatti Vikramarka had a busy Wednesday visiting Toshiba’s headquarters and factories, discussing the setting up of fuel cell divisions and holding meetings. Starting at 8 am from Tokyo, Bhatti visited the headquarters of the multinational electronics and electrical giant Toshiba, located 50 km away.
He was accompanied by the Chief Secretary of Finance, Ramakrishna Rao, Energy Secretary Ronald Ross, SCCL CMD N. Balaram and officials of the Indian Embassy, Ms Bansal and Ms Devajani.
Toshiba’s senior executives, including Hiroshi Kaneta from the Energy Systems and Solutions division and Vice President Shige Rizo Kawahara, welcomed the Deputy Chief Minister and officials. They explained Toshiba’s products and services through a PowerPoint presentation.
Although primarily an electronics production company, Toshiba is now a leader in environmentally friendly solar products. They provided details about their business of manufacturing photovoltaic modules to generate solar power, fuel cells, battery energy storage technology, powerful
generators and zero-carbon emission technologies. During the meeting, Bhatti emphasised that Telangana is planning to install large-scale solar plants, which will require a significant quantity of photovoltaic modules.
He also noted that fuel cell technology will have increased usage in ‘Future City’ projects, encouraging Toshiba to set up units in the state through joint partnerships.
He added that Telangana needs modern generators, energy-saving and storage products, electric vehicle batteries and related services and urged Toshiba to invest in the state.
He said the government is determined to make Telangana an electronics hub, with green electric vehicles leading in ‘Future City.’
He also said that in future all TGSRTC buses will be electric and Toshiba’s services will be essential for this.
SCCL, as part of expanding its business, is planning to move into mining minerals like lithium. As Toshiba is a leader in lithium battery production a collaboration between SCCL and Toshiba could be useful.
Later, at around 12 noon, the delegation visited Toshiba’s fuel cell manufacturing unit nearby. They inspected the production of turbines and generators used in nuclear and thermal power generation as well as the manufacturing processes of photovoltaic modules and various kinds of batteries.
Responding to Bhatti’s invitation, Toshiba officials said that they have established units in only three Indian states, with Telangana being a prominent one.
They noted that Telangana is highly conducive to business and expressed a positive outlook on expanding their operations in the state, either independently or in partnership with the state government. They also revealed plans to increase their current EV vehicle production capacity and expand their plant.
Later in the afternoon, Bhatti and his delegation boarded a bullet train for a 700 km journey to Osaka, where they planned to visit Panasonic’s headquarters and plants.
Bhatti said that Japan’s public transportation system is a model for the entire world. Travelling from Tokyo to Osaka on the bullet train, the delegation covered the 700-km distance in just two hours and 20 minutes.
He commended the comfort and excellent facilities on the train, and expressed his desire to develop a similar transport system in Telangana, adding that he would be proposing this to the Indian Railways.
