Welspun Anjar plant to begin production in Dec

The Rs 900 crore Welspun Stahl Rohren Ltd (WSRL) will make foray into High Frequency Induction Welded (HFIW) pipe market with the commissioning of the new plant in Anjar in Kutch district, by this December.

The company also plans to raise Rs 230 crore through convertible securities to fund the expansion. Rest will be funded through internal accruals.

A company spokesperson, here on Monday, said, "Construction of the HFIW plant is almost complete and we are planning to commission it commercially this December. Facilities for manufacturing spiral and Submerged Arc Welded (SAW) pipes at Anjar would also be commissioned during the same time. With the commissioning of the new facility, Welspun will manufacture 2 lakh metric tonne of HFIW pipes per annum, while the facility will also manufacture 3.50 lakh MTPA of LSAW pipes and 50,000 MTPA capacity of spiral pipes."

This is in addition to Welspun's existing manufacturing capacity at Dahej in Bharuch. The Dahej plant produces around 400,000 MTPA of SAW and spiral pipes.

WSRL, in an attempt to hike productivity of its Dahej plant, has been carrying out debottlenecking. Welspun has earlier acquired pipe mill of the US-based Geneva Steel. After dismantling the HFIW facility of the US company, the plant has now been reinstalled at Anjar.

"As the company has decided to issue further equity shares or convertible instruments to fund the capital expansion plan and meet other financial requirements, the issued and paid-up equity share capital is expected to increase beyond Rs 159 crore," the spokesperson said.

"Accordingly the company also has decided to increase the authorised share capital to Rs 254 crore divided into 18.50 crore equity shares of Rs 10 each and 6.90 crore preference shares of Rs 10 each."

WSRL recently received the shareholders' approval to merge its joint venture company, Eupec Welspun Pipecoating India with Welspun Stahl. The company is awaiting a nod from Gujarat High Court before finally merging the pipecoating entity.

This unit was set up in late '90s in collaboration with German major Eupec Pipecoating GmBH.

In view of the increasing demand for the coated pipes. Welspun will also set up a facility in Anjar for coating 32.4 million square metre of pipes per year.