Birla Corp plans to raise cement capacity to 15 mt.

M P Birla Group flagship Birla Corporation has drawn up plans to ramp up cement capacity to 15 mt over the next four years.

As and when the company reaches that increased capacity, Birla Corporation will be among the top 10 cement producers in the country. “At present our cement production capacity is 9.3 mt per annum. We want to take it to 15 mt in the next four years,” Birla Corporation chairman Harsh Lodha said after the company's AGM in Kolkata. He said there is an oversupply situation in the cement market at present as capacities are being built up (by cement companies) over the last three to four years on higher demand expectations, but the demand has not risen.

The company, meanwhile, is awaiting a limestone mining lease from Assam Mineral Development Corporation (AMDC). Birla Corporation had earlier signed an MoU with AMDC for setting up a plant there. Once the company gets the mining lease from AMDC, it would form a joint venture company with the state-run corporation and get the project off the ground, he said.

While AMDC will hold a 12.5 per cent equity, Birla Corporation is supposed to hold the rest. Lodha said the proposed plant would have 1 mt capacity, which will be set up with a capital outlay of Rs 600 crore. Responding to queries on the company’s jute division, he said the natural fibre market is mostly dependent on the government packaging order and, therefore, the company is working on a plan to develop new usages for the natural fibre.

www.mydigitalfc.com