Sundaram Industries, part of the TVS group of companies, and Novotema SPA of Italy have announced plans to set up a joint venture company for manufacturing and distributing of specialty elastomer used in sealing application, the company said in a release. Novotema is a leading manufacturer of specialty elastomer and has a strong presence in the European market. According to the plans, the joint venture company will promote a whole range of cost- effective products using the engineering expertise of Novotema and operational and commercial expertise of the TVS group in the Indian market. The President of Novotema is expected to visit India shortly when details of the new projects would be worked out, a TVS group spokesman said. The new manufacturing facility will be set up in Madurai and will have high degree of automation.