Vesuvius plans Rs 100 crore investment in Bengal

Kolkata, Apr 20 (UNI) Vesuvius India Ltd., is planning to invest Rs 100 crore for increasing capacity at its refractory plant in Kolkata, its Managing Director Biswadip Gupta said today.

The expansion plans have been charted to take advantage of the growth potential in iron and steel industry, sponge iron, aluminium, glass, foundry and petrochemicals industry, he said.

"We have already acquired land near our Kolkata factory from Philips India Ltd. at a cost of Rs 5 crore. We are awaiting government clearance to start the expansion at the factory and hope to start the project after monsoon," Gupta told reporters on the sidelines of company's 15th Annual General Meeting.

Major portion of the fund required for the expansion would be arranged through internal accruals with little bit of borrowings, he said.

"We are targeting to complete the expansion in Kolkata in 15-16 months. Ultimately our capacity will double to 1,600 pieces a day after the expansion," Gupta said.

The company had recently invested about Rs 15 crore on increasing capacity of Visakhapatnam plant to 40,000 tonnes per month and on Mehsana plant to 140 tonnes per month.

The project at Kolkata will be ready to meet the demand of greenfield and brownfield expansion of steel industry in the country, he said.

On growth prospect in 2006, Mr Gupta said their top line grew by 26 per cent to Rs 219 crore and operating profit grew by 16 per cent to Rs 49 crore rupees in 2005. "We do not see any negative impact on top line and bottom line in 2006. Our first quarter results to be announced later during the days will set the tone," he said.

The company is supplying upto 80 per cent of its produce to steel industry and the balance to glass and petrochemical sector, he said.

The company has decided to have a complete re-look at the Kolkata expansion project in view of announcements of Greenfield projects by POSCO, Mittal Steel and Tata Steel and brown field expansion by SAIL, JVSL, Essar and Ispat Industries, he said.

Vesuvius is a leading refractory producer in the country and competes with companies like Tata Refractories, ACE, IFJL, OCL, Bharat Refractories and Orient Abrasives.

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