Birla Corporation planning to invest around INR 2400 Cr., to set up cement plant in Maharashtra

M P Birla Group company Birla Corporation on Monday said it is planning to invest around INR 2,400 Cr. for setting up a greenfield cement manufacturing plant in Maharashtra. After operationalisation, the proposed plant at Maharashtra’s Mukutban, with a capacity of 4 million tonnes, will take the Kolkata-based company’s total cement production capacity from the present 15.5 million tonnes per annum (MTPA) to 19.5 MTPA. “We are looking to set up the clinkerization plant with a split grinding unit. The investment would be INR 2,400 Cr. First, it has to be approved by the board,” chairman Harsh V Lodha told reporters after the company’s annual general meeting here.

Lodha said the company would use a mix of debt and internal accruals to finance the capital expenditure for the new plant. The mining lease at Mukutban would enable it to set up the clinkerization unit, according to the latest annual report of the cement maker. On when the new cement unit is expected to come up, Lodha said, “We can come faster than most of the other plants because land has already been acquired.”

Stating that brand building exercise was always a continuous process, he said the company had already invested on the rebranding exercise of Perfect Cement, a brand which it acquired last year after buying 100% stake in Reliance Cement Company (RCCPL).The rebranding exercise of the Reliance Perfect Cement brand as MP Birla Perfect Cement had started during the fourth quarter last fiscal, the annual report said, adding the transition of brand was seamless.

“In the next three to four years, you will see that in Central India (cement) demands are coming up because of various projects, infrastructure developments and new housing. But no new capacity is coming up,” he said, point out that his company would be in an advantageous position to seize this opportunity.Demand for cement in India, the second largest producer of the commodity in the world, is expected to reach 550-600 MTPA by 2025, and the housing sector is the biggest demand driver of cement, accounting for about 67% of the total consumption in the country.

(Source: www.financialexpress.com)