Gujarat NRE lines up Rs 700 cr for AP units

Gujarat NRE Coke will invest around Rs 700 crore in its 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 that through a video conferencing that the company would invest Rs 350 crore in a one 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 in Andhra Pradesh 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 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 Andhra Pradesh plant. He said owing to increased prices in coke, the company had been able to earn positive cash flow this year unlike the previous financial year.

The company was in the process of substantially raising the production of coking coal from its overseas mines in Australia and New Zealand from 1 million tonne and to seven million tonnes. Jagatramka said that the total investment required for ramping up production of coking coal would be $400 million to $450 million (over Rs 1,683-1894 crore).