JK Cement plans plant in Karnataka

JK Cement plans to set up a one million tonne grey cement plant in Karnataka. The company is currently assessing limestone deposits in Bagalkot district in north Karnataka.

"Once the limestone mine location is finalised, we plan to invest Rs 400 crore in a greenfield plant to take care of the market needs in south India," said M P Rawal, president - technical and management services, JK Cement.

With JK Cement's sales in south India touching 50,000 tonne per year, the company felt it was time to invest in a cement plant in south India, he added.

In addition to a cement plant in Karnataka, the company is looking at Himachal Pradesh and Uttaranchal for a similar capacity.

JK Cement currently has two grey cement plants in Nimbahera and Mangrol in Rajasthan's Chittorgarh district, with a 3.5 million tonne per annum capacity. The company has Rs 850 crore sales, most of which coming from north India.

Through its JK White Cement plant at Gotan in Rajasthan's Nagaur district, the company produces 300,000 million tonne of white cement. The sale of white cement in India and neighbouring countries are around Rs 140 crore.