India Cements to set up unit in MP at an outlay of Rs 1000 Cr

: India Cements Friday said it would set up a manufacturing facility in Madhya Pradesh at an investment of around Rs 1,000 crore following the agreement it signed to acquire Springway Mining Pvt Ltd last month.

The city based company,which has manufacturing facilities across the country, recorded capacity utilisation increase at 77 per cent for the quarter ending September 30, 2018, company Vice-Chairman and Managing Director, N Srinivasan said.

He said the company entered into a share purchase ageement to acquire the entire share holding of Springway Mining Pvt Ltd in a phased manner for Rs 182.89 crore.

"Investments will be around Rs 1,000 crore for setting up the cement plant. We will fund it internally. If necessary, we may go for a bridge loan", he told reporters.

To a query, he said the manufacturing unit would serve the North and Eastern Uttar Pradesh markets.

Srinivasan and senior executives were here to declare its financial performance for the quarter and half year period ending September 30, 2018.

India Cements reported a 93.95 per cent drop in its standalone net profit at Rs 1.43 crore during the quarter ended September 2018 due to low selling price, despite an increase in volume.

The company had reported a net profit of Rs 23.67 crore in the same quarter of the previous fiscal.

Total income stood at Rs 1,390.84 crore in the second quarter of the 2018-19 fiscal. It was Rs 1,274.9 crore in the year-ago period, India Cements said in a BSE filing.

The company