Gujarat NRE Coke plans Rs 700 cr investment in AP

Gujarat NRE Coke will invest around Rs 700 crore in its greenfield plant in Andhra Pradesh over a period of three years, a top company official said.     

Vice-chairman and Managing Director of Gujarat NRE Coke Arun Kumar Jagatramka told reporters here through video conferencing that the company would invest Rs 350 crore in a 1 million tonne coke plant in the state.     

He said the company had already acquired 200 acres of land for the purpose.     

The company would also spend Rs 50 crore for setting up a coal washery there and subsequently another Rs 300 crore would be invested for setting up a waste heat recovery unit, official added.      

The entire investment would be funded through a mix of debt and internal accruals, Jagatramka said.     

He said the decision to set up the plant there was taken because of the presence of a strong user industry base comprising secondary steel producers.     

The company would import coking coal from its mines in Australia for conversion into coke in the AP plant.     

He said due to increased prices in coke, the company had been able to earn positive cash flow this year unlike the previous fiscal.