Balmer Lawrie plans Rs 125 cr capex this fiscal

Diversified PSU Balmer Lawrie & Co, under the ministry of petroleum and natural gas, is planning to make a capital expenditure of Rs 125 crore in the current financial year, an official said.

The money would be mainly spent to strengthen the company's logistics, grease and lubricants, and industrial packaging verticals, its chairman and managing director Prabal Basu said Wednesday.

Basu, who was talking to reporters after the company's AGM here, said the logistics division was mainly dealing with exim cargo. "Presently, 60 per cent of the cargo was being sent by air. We want to send more freight through ocean from the present levels of 20 per cent".

Ideally the ratio between air and ocean cargo should be 50:50, he said.

The company has also got land in Bhubaneswar for setting up a temperature controlled warehouse.

He said that the upcoming Vadodara plant in Gujarat would be commissioned by the month-end which would manufacture steel drums with an annual capacity of six lakh units.

Regarding Transafe, a subsidiary which deals with inland cargo, Basu said that the company has a debt of Rs 180 crore. "We are discussing with investors to take 50 per cent equity in the company and also to pay-off the debt through a one-time-settlement", he said.

The company had also constituted a start-up fund with a corpus of Rs five crore, he said.

"We have decided to fund to two start-ups in collaboration with IIM Joka", he said.

Basu said that the company is expecting a rise in the turnover to Rs 2000 crore in the current fiscal from Rs 1800 crore which it clocked in the last financial year.