Grasim Third Largest Cement Producer

The Aditya Birla group flagship recently expanded capacity of its Raipur plant from one million tonnes to 1.5 million tonnes by adding five lakh tonnes of slag cement.

This has taken Grasim's overall capacity from 4.5 million tonnes to 5 million tonnes. L&T has a six-million-tonne capacity, while ACC has a capacity of 10 million tonnes.

A Grasim spokesman said 5 lakh tonnes of slag cement was added at Raipur in March this year.

The increase will give the company greater volumes to improve its market presence in the central and eastern parts.

Century Textiles, the B K Birla group flagship, has 4.7 million tonnes of capacity at three locations, while Gujarat Ambuja comes next with 3.5 million tonnes.

Gujarat Ambuja is adding another 1.5 million tonnes by December this year, taking its capacity to 5 million tonnes.

The Birla group is the country's largest cement producer with capacity close to 15 million tonnes.

Other cement producing companies include Kesoram Industries, Mangalam Cement, Indian Rayon & Industries and Century Textiles. Indian Rayon is also one of the largest producers of white cement in the country with a capacity of 3 lakh tonnes.

Cement is expected to contribute 27 per cent of Grasim's gross sales in 1997, the second largest division after viscose staple fibre, which contributes 44 per cent. Sponge iron, chlor-alkali, chemicals and textiles contribute nine per cent each.

The cement division faced problems last year owing to power cuts in Madhya Pradesh, where two of its plants are located, while there was teething trouble at the 1-million-tonne Shambhupura plant in Rajasthan.

This year, the operating capacity is projected to improve. A recent report by SSKI Securities estimates a 44 per cent jump in cement production to 4.7 million tonnes Capacity utilisation is likely to jump from 65.4 per cent last year to 94 per cent this year, while sales is expected to touch Rs 1,082.3 crore from Rs 699.5 crore last year.