Ambuja Cements to invest Rs 3,000 cr

Ambuja Cements would invest Rs 3,000 crore in the current year in the two plants it is setting up in the country and will hire 1,000 people for the same, company's Chairman Suresh Neotia said.

He expects the company to register a 10-15 per cent growth rate in net profit in the current financial year, besides its gross revenues moving up by 15 per cent. Ambuja Cements is setting up two manufacturing plants, one each in Chhattisgarh and Himachal Pradesh, with a combined capacity of 5 million tonnes per annum. After the two facilities are commissioned by the end of the current year, the total capacity of the company would increase to 23 million tonnes per annum.

The cement manufacturer would hire 500 people for each of the two new plants, Neotia said on the sidelines of a event organised by the Confederation of Indian Industry.

However, the company expects its exports to fall to 6-7 lakh tonnes in 2009, compared to a million tonnes in 2008.

Neotia added that said cement prices in the country is likely to see a correction of Rs 10-15 per bag by July.