Midhani plans to start exports from Mar '15

To commission its Rs 200-crore expansion project by Sept-Oct

Mishra Dhatu Nigam Limited (Midhani), which is setting up a Rs 200-crore capacity expansion project in Hyderabad, has plans to unlock the export potential in select product segments from March-April 2015.

Midhani has laid out an initial roadmap, under which it "plans to undertake export orders from Mar-Apr 2015," said Narayana Rao, chairman and managing director of Midhani. However, it has not opened up the export list yet, he added.

The mini-ratna company, working under the aegis of Defence ministry, is into the manufacture of ferro alloys, materials out of rare earths and moulds for defence forces, space programme and civil industrial purposes.  

The rational for exports flows from the fact that the upcoming facility would double its production capacity to 6,000 tonnes per annum. At a customer meet in November, Rao had said, “exports form an important option once fresh capacity kicks in.”

According to him, the Rs 200-crore capacity expansion plant is slated to be ready by September-October this year. “Even as I say the plant would be ready by Sept-Oct, I wish to commission it by August 15,” he said.

The PSU enterprise is targeting a revenue of Rs 600 crore for the fiscal 2014-15, as against Rs 560 crore this fiscal. In the next fiscal, it expects increased orders from vendors associated with the Indian space programme. Its order book stands at around Rs 1,100 crore.

Midhani, which has been plagued by delays in payments, said it expected improvement on the payments front only after the general elections.

Last year, it made a profit of Rs 117 crore. It had been paying a dividend of Rs 37 crore for the last two years to the Union government.

Rao said the ongoing mould testing of aeronautical grade titanium by it would be completed in the next 3-4 months. The titanium sponge for this was being supplied by a joint effort of Kerala Metals and Minerals Corporation and Defence Metallurgical Research Laboratory (DMRL), a research arm of missile manufacturer DRDO.  

Its ongoing R&D efforts include development of high-grade steels and advanced ultra-super critical alloys for the power sector.