Shakambhari Ispat and Power looks to raise production capacity.

Shakambhari Ispat and Power Ltd., which had recently taken control of SPS Steels Rolling Mills --the makers of ‘Elegant Steel and TMT bars’, is now looking to augment production capacity and market the brand across India.

According to Deepak Kumar Agarwal, CMD, Shakambhari Group of Industries, SPS Steel’s annual production, which had dwindled to 96,000 tonnes per annum, has increased to close to 1.75 lakh tonnes post takeover. Plans are afoot to increase the production capacity further to 2.25-2.5 lakh tonnes in 2020-21.

“We plan to invest close to ₹150 crore in the coming fiscal on expansion which will include a steel melting shop that will help us reach around 3 lakh tonnes per annum from the current 1.75 lakh tonnes. We have taken serious measures for modernisation of the plant and are in negotiation for foreign collaborations for technology upgradation,” he said.

SPS Steels had an integrated steel plant with facilities to manufacture TMT bars with an installed capacity of close to 1.8 lakh tonnes per annum. However, the capacity was underutilised at around 35 per cent before the takeover. Shakambhari Ispat, after receiving approval from the Kolkata bench of National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT), had paid ₹270 crore to the financial and operational creditors as per the approved resolution plan for the acquisition.

The company is now looking to set up a 13-MW captive power plant at an estimated investment of around ₹60 crore.Talking about improving the distribution and footprint of Elegant bars across the country, Ankit Mittal, Vice-President, Business Development, Shakambhari Group, said: “We have added more than 200 dealers in West Bengal alone and are looking to grab around 15 per cent share of this segment by the end of the financial year. We have started to enter Jharkhand, Bihar, Odisha and North East as well as the north Indian markets.”

HBL