HR Johnson forays into engineered marble, quartz

Targeting home lifestyle segment, H&R Johnson (HRJ), a division of Prism Cement Ltd, on Wednesday announced its foray into engineered marble and quartz business.

"Our 50:50 joint venture unit with Antique in Rajkot will have a separate facility at an investment of Rs 50 crore for the manufacturing of our new product line," HRJ Business Head T J P Rao said.

"The unit having cumulative annual production capacity of 9.6 million square feet will commence production of engineered quartz by mid-February and marble by March end," he said. Engineered marble, is an artificial marble made from the natural stone's lump or chips and powders, bonded by a polyester resin, while engineered quartz is comparable to granite stone. "In the first year target is to achieve 60 to 70 per cent capacity, and cent percent within next three years. At full capacity it is expected to generate annual sales turnover of Rs 150 crore," he said. The investments in this unit is part of Rs 400 crore capex plan of the company for capacity building over the next two years. The company has branded engineered marble and quartz as Johnson Cristal, to leverage the brand equity and pull the flagship brand-Johnson.