Usha Beltron Gears Up On Recast Hopes

The share price of Usha Beltron today hit the 20 per cent upper limit at Rs 32.35. On the Bombay Stock Exchange, more than 71,579 shares were traded today compared with an average volume of 4,000-6,000 shares.

Dealers said, "Local brokerage houses have been accumulating the stock on expectation of better performance following a recent restructuring exercise."

Usha Beltron, part of the Rs 1,500 crore Usha Martin group, had recently entered into an agreement with the speciality wire, cord and rope manufacturer Gustav Wolf of Germany to manufacture steel cords in the country.

Under the agreement, an exclusive division, to be named UM Gustav Wolf Steel Cord Division, will be set up within the premises of Usha Martin`s plant at Ranchi in Jharkhand to manufacture steel cord for conveyor belt reinforcement application. At present, such steel cords are imported.

Further, the product will be branded as 'UM Gustav Wolf Cord' and will mainly address the demands of the Indian market.

The company has also recently announced it would set up of a direct reduced iron plant with a capacity of 100 kt per annum, a 7.5 mw waste heat recovery based co-generation power plant and construction of railway siding at its Jamshedpur unit and increasing the capacity of value added steel and wire rope products.

The cost of the project is estimated to be around Rs 125 crore. The company plans to finance it through a mix of debt, equity and internal generation of funds.

The company is approaching International Finance Corporation, Washington, and other financial institutions for the same.