DRDO contracts Godrej, 9 other companies to manufacture oxygen generators

Mumbai: The Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) has contracted 10 private sector players, including city-based Godrej & Boyce (G&B), to manufacture oxygen generators.

Godrej Precision Engineering (GPE), a unit of G&B, has received the order from the Defence Bio-engineering and Electromechanical Laboratory, a DRDO laboratory in Bengaluru, to manufacture oxygen generators, G&B said in a statement.

The second wave of the pandemic exposed the severe shortfall of oxygen across the country, which forced the state agencies to source it from all the available resources across the country to save lives. Oxygen, which is generally used in industrial plants, was ferried through tankers on the road, through railway and also by air.

The first batch of medical oxygen generators has been deployed in hospitals across Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand and Madhya Pradesh, it added.

"With the pandemic still rampant with newer variants emerging, the need for medical oxygen has increased exponentially," it said.

Each generator can produce 250 litres of oxygen per minute which can cater to 50 patients, it added.

G&B said this is not its first partnership with DRDO. It pointed to the past collaborations like Godrej Aerospace developing and delivering 5,000 proportional solenoid valves, a critical component for making ventilators, and GPE's work on the Brahmos missile system and naval diving gear, among others.

In a separate regulatory filing, Isgec Heavy Engineering Ltd said it has bagged an order from DRDO for supply of 25 medical oxygen plants.

"Isgec is proud to have received an order for 25 medical oxygen plants from DRDO, Ministry of Defence, Govt. of India," the company said. "These plants have a capacity of 250 LPM (litre per minute) each....The design for these oxygen plants has been developed by DRDO on the Pressure Swing Adsorption (PSA) principle," it said.

This is the first order Isgec has received for medical oxygen plants from DRDO, it said.

"The scope of work includes manufacturing, supplying, installing, and commissioning," it said. Isgec is a diversified heavy engineering company engaged in manufacturing and project businesses with an extensive global presence.