Birla Corporation to invest Rs 2,400 crore for clinker plant in Maharashtra

Birla Corporation Ltd, a part of MP Birla Group, is planning to invest Rs 2,400 crore for setting up a four million-tonne clinkerisation unit with a grinding facility at Mukutban in Maharashtra, a top company official said on Monday.

"We are looking to set up a four million-tonne clinker plant with a grinding unit. Hopefully, the investment would be Rs 2,400 crore. It has to be approved by the board and factory land has already been acquired," said company's Chairman Harsh V. Lodha on the sidelines of the 97th Annual General Meeting of the corporation.

According to the company's latest annual report, the mining lease at Mukutban will enable the company to set up clinkerisation unit in "foreseeable future".

The city-headquartered company had last year acquired cement business of Reliance Infrastructure Ltd for an enterprise value of Rs 4,800 crore. The acquisition was funded through existing cash reserves and incremental debt.

This acquisition has provided the company with the ownership of high-quality assets, taking its total capacity to 15.5 million tonne per annum from 10 million tonne per annum, strengthening its presence in the high-growth central region, it said in its annual report.

The company, in its latest annual report, said the measures being undertaken such as installation of waste heat recovery system in the acquired plant and dispatches by rail in its grinding unit in Uttar Pradesh were expected to aid in further reduction in cost and increasing volumes.

Speaking on the acquired plants, company Chairman Lodha said: "There was some capital expenditure which did not get done towards the end of the projects which we are doing now. We are putting up waste heat recovery system which will give us free power of 12 mw. It would take Rs 125 crore of investment to set up the system. Currently, we are buying power from the grid and we have not yet decided how to reduce the cost of power. We are also studying a feasibility of captive power plant."

The company's expansion potential will also be enhanced significantly by valuable mineral concessions access to in several states in addition to Madhya Pradesh.

Reliance Cement Company Private Limited (RCCPL) had three cement units, an integrated cement plant at Maihar in Madhya Pradesh and grinding units at Kundanganj in Uttar Pradesh and Butibori in Maharashtra, with an aggregate capacity of 5.58 million tonne per annum of cement and 3.3 million tonne of clinker, the report said.

The plants of RCCPL have started performing at strong operating parameters which are comparable with the benchmarks in the industry.

"We are hoping to increase the capacity to 20 million tonnes within the next five years," Lodha told shareholders.

--IANS

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