Calcutta, May 23 :    Calcutta, May 23:  Usha Beltron (UBL), the Rs 1,500-crore flagship of the Jhawar group, plans to set up a sponge iron plant at its Jamshedpur unit at an investment of Rs 75 crore. The new plant will have a capacity of one lakh tonnes of sponge iron per annum. UBL joint managing director P. Bhattacharya said the financial closure of the project is likely to be completed shortly. 'The project of this magnitude will take around 18 months to complete,' he added. Explaining the reason behind this fresh capital investment, Bhattacharya said the company currently outsources about 35 per cent of its need for sponge and pig iron for its steel making facility in Jamshedpur. 'Outsourcing is not always a very comfortable proposition as the market for these products always fluctuates widely. Hence, our plan is to increase our own capacity so that we don't have to depend much on outside procurement,' he said. The company's average outgo on procurement of such raw material is around Rs 65 crore. Bhattacharya said the company would be able to reduce its overall cost of production substantially once this new facility comes up. Meanwhile, UBL promoters are considering a plan to restructure the company's equity in order to reverse the adverse debt-equity ratio. The company's debt stands at Rs 890 crore. 'We are actively considering an equity restructuring plan which will hopefully be finalised very soon,' Prashant Jhawar, vice president, said. Jhawar, while hinting at the possible rise in the promoters' stake in the company from the current level of 25 per cent, said, 'Any equity infusion is certainly going to have an impact on the current holding pattern.' Jhawar has also indicated that the company may try to rope in financial partners, such as venture capital funds, for acquiring an equity stake. UBL suffered a massive erosion in its profitability for the year ended March 31. Net profit stood at Rs 6.03 crore on a turnover of Rs 922.28 crore, as against a net profit of Rs 48.81 crore posted on a turnover of Rs 1,095.72 crore in the previous 15-month period. It has declared a dividend of 10 per cent. Bhattacharya explained that the previous results were not only for a 15-month period but also included earnings from extra-ordinary items worth Rs 25.38 crore. The company's export earnings last year stood at Rs 170 crore.