|
|
UltraTech Cement director Rajashree Birla with chairman Kumar Mangalam Birla in Mumbai on Thursday. (PTI)
|
Mumbai, Aug. 30: UltraTech Cement has embarked on a flurry of expansion and modernisation initiatives at an investment of Rs 12,000 crore that are expected to raise its capacity by as much as 10 million tonnes (mt) to 62mt in less than a year.
The company will also enhance its power capacity to 659 megawatt (MW) from 529MW.
“The outlook for the cement industry remains challenging, but we are bullish on the sector. We have embarked on a plan to increase our capacity to 62 million tonne by the next fiscal,” UltraTech’s chairman Kumar Mangalam Birla told shareholders at the company’s 12th annual meet here today.
Most of the expansion and modernisation projects will go on stream in early 2013-14, he said. These will include development of clinkerisation plants at Chhattisgarh and Karnataka along with grinding units, bulk packaging terminals and ready mix concrete plants and waste-heat recovery systems.
“These expansions will increase the company’s capacity by 10.2 million tonnes per annum to 62 million tonnes,” he said.
Birla said the total capex of around Rs 12,000 crore would be funded through a mix of internal accruals and borrowings.
He said the industry faced challenging times in the previous fiscal because of the slow pace of housing and infrastructure development and high operating costs on the back of a spike in energy and freight prices.
“I believe the short-term prospects for the industry appear bearish. Regardless, over the medium to long term, the sector offers good growth potential,” he added.
|
