Sona Koya Steering Systems Ltd, with a Market Share of 50% is the largest manufacturer of Steering gears in India and a leading supplier of Hydraulic Power Steering Systems, Manual Rack & Pinion Steering Systems, Collapsible, Tilt and Rigid Steering Columns for Passenger Vans and MUVs. In addtion to this the Companies product also includes Rear Axle Assemblies and Propeller Shafts.The Company is a Technical and financial Joint Venture Company of Koyo Seiko Company, Japan, a global technology leader in Steering Systems. _x000D_ _x000D_ The company has technical Collaboration from Koyo Seiko Company, Japan and Mando Machinery Corp of Korea. Koyo Seiko Company hold 20.47% Equity Stake of the company._x000D_ _x000D_ The Companies Plants are located at Chengalpattu, Tamilnadu and Gurgaon, Harayana_x000D_ _x000D_ Some of the companies Customers are Brakes India, Denso India, Eicher (Tractors), Hindustan Motors Ltd, Hyundai Motors, Keihin Panalfa (Honda Siel), Koyo Steering Thailand, Mahindra & Mahindra, Koyo Steering, USA, Maruti Udyog, Maval Manufacturing Inc, Punjab Tractors Ltd, San Motors, Sona Somic Lemforder, Tata Motors, Toyota Kirloskar Motors, TVS Suzuki, Mando Korea. _x000D_ _x000D_ Sona Steering Systems, incorporated in June1984, commenced business in September 1985 as a key supplier to Maruti Udyog ltd. The company commenced commercial production in 1st October 1987 after completion of project for manufacture of Rack & Pinion Steering Gears and Steering columns with a capacity of 125000 Nos. Sona Koya is the Market Leader in the Indian Steering systems category in volume terms with over 50% share and in value terms it is second largest player with over 30% share. This imbalance is mainly due to sona's product mix, still the low value manufacturing steering systems contributes more to sales than power steering systems._x000D_ _x000D_ In February 1988, the company came out with a 2-3 crore public issue to part finance its Rs.11.62 crore project to manufacture 1.25 lacs steering gear assemblies p.a. In August 1991, it came out with a rights issue of PCDs to finance the capacity expansion from 1.25 lac pa to 1.75 lac pa and for diversification to manufacture 50000 axles assemblies. _x000D_ _x000D_ The company signed an MoU with oberland Marigold, Germany to manufacture metallic Catalytic convertors which are smaller, more efficient and cost-effective. With environmental protection devices having been made compulsory, there is a huge market for convertors. SSSL has tied up with Mahindra and Mahindra to form a new firm, Mahindra Sona. The Company was accredited with the ISO-9002 certitication by RWTUV. _x000D_ _x000D_ In 1990-91 the Rear Axles Assemblies project was completed with a capacity to manufacture 50000 Nos._x000D_ _x000D_ In 1992-93, the capacity of Steering Gear Assembly was expanded from 125000 Nos to 315000 Nos. _x000D_ _x000D_ In 1997-98 the company implemented the power steering project at a total cost of Rs.11 crores. The trail production began in March 1998._x000D_ _x000D_ In 1998-99 the company setup a new plant at Chennai with a total investment of Rs.724.30 Lacs for steering requirements of Hyundai and has commenced production in December, 1998. The capacity of Steering Gear Assembly including components were expanded from 315000 Nos to 550000 Nos, Axle Assemblies from 50000 Nos to 92000 Nos and Propeller Shaft with capacity of 146000 was created during the year._x000D_ _x000D_ The company received preferential capital of Rs.10 crores from its collaborators M/s Koyo Seiko Co, Ltd, Japan in 1999-2000, with this the name of the company was changed from sona steering systems to sona koya steering systems ltd._x000D_ _x000D_ The company was awarded Maruti's 'Best Vendor Award' in the category of steering and suspension components. _x000D_ _x000D_ In 2002-2003 the company set up an R & D Division, where engineers developed a new, lighter weight collapsible steering column._x000D_ _x000D_ In October 2004, the company bought 21% stake in Fuji Autotech France S.A.S (FAF). The company also entered into Joint Venture with Fuji Kiko Co Ltd Japan (associated company of Koyo Seiko Ltd Japan) in France. _x000D_ _x000D_ In 2004-2005 the company had set up a machining lines at the companies units in Gurgaon and Chennai and also set up a 100 percent EOU near Chennai to execute Manual gear order from a North American automaker. The companies capacity in 2004-2005 stood at 847000 Nos for Steering Gear Assembly including components,153000 Nos for Axle Assemblies, 396000 Nos for Case Differential Assembly, 132000 Nos for Propeller shaft, 120000 Nos for Rack & Pinion Assy and 200000 Nos for Column & UJ Assy._x000D_ _x000D_ Recently the company also entered in to a MoU with Fuji Autotech AB - the market leader in the commercial vehicle steering column segment in Europe, which will provide access to their proprietary commercial vehicle steering coloumn technology for the domestic and international markets_x000D_ _x000D_ The company proposes to expand the capacity of manual steering gears to 1050000 units per annum and power steering capacity to 295000 units per annum by the end of 2005-2006._x000D_