Maithan Alloys to set up ferro-alloys unit

Kolkata: Maithan Alloys, India’s leading manufacturer and exporter of manganese alloys, announced plans to set up a 72 MVA ferro alloys unit in Visakhapatnam, Andhra Pradesh, with an installed capacity of 1.2 lakh tonnes per annum (tpa) at an investment of Rs 275 crore.

The project will be set up under the aegis of a wholly-owned subsidiary and it will be funded by a mix of debt, equity and internal accruals. Commercial production from the unit will commence from the fiscal 2011-12, according to Mr S.C. Agarwalla, Managing Director of Maithan Alloys Ltd.

Mr Agarwalla said the company presently has a 94,600 tpa capacity ferro alloys plant that is located near Asansol in West Bengal. Another plant with a capacity of 28,000 tpa is being set up in Meghalaya and the same is slated to be commissioned in the last quarter of the current fiscal.

Mr Agarwalla said all the plants would concentrate on the manufacture of manganese alloys only. With the commissioning of the Andhra Pradesh project, the company would account of 18 per cent of the country’s production of manganese alloys, up from 10 per cent at present.

According to him, Maithan Alloys has also decided to set up a 100 per cent subsidiary for its mines and minerals business. Efforts are on to acquire manganese ore for captive use. Environmental clearance for one such ore located in Orissa was awaited.

In the first quarter of the current fiscal, Maithan Alloys recorded a turnover of Rs 206 crore. Of this, exports accounted for Rs 134 crore.