India Cements to invest Rs 75 cr in TN facility

Manging director says plant management, cost reduction and operational efficiency should be the focus

India Cements plans to invest around Rs 75 crore in its Shankar Nagar facility in Tamil Nadu, mainly to improve product quality and energy efficiency measures, according to company sources.

The company would start associated works once it receives the environment clearance and it could take 15 months to complete them, they said.

The works include replacing old cement mills to improve the quality of cement and reduce power consumption.

As against a capacity of 1.3 million tonnes per annum (mtpa) in 1989, over the last two decades it expanded its total capacity to 15.5 mtpa.

It has seven integrated cement plants located in Tamil Nadu and Andhra Pradesh; one in Rajasthan (through its subsidiary Trinetra Cement Ltd with a capacity of 1.5 mtpa) and two grinding units each in TN and Maharashtra. Its overall plant capacity utilisation stood at around 70 per cent.

India Cements vice chairman and managing director N Srinivasan in a company's internal newsletter recently said the Centre should accord top priority to infrastructure development and ensure the completion of pending projects. This would go a long way in reviving the investment climate and job creation, he stated.