Asain Granito embarks on Rs 76 crore expansion

Mumbai, Nov 7: Asian Granito India Ltd has embarked on an expansion project involving a capital expenditure of Rs 76 crore at Idar in Sabarkantha district of Gujarat.

Explaining, its Managing Director Hasmukh Patel said the project envisages expansion of its existing unit at Idar at a cost of Rs 12 crore and a new vitrified tiles unit being set up at Dalpur at an outlay of Rs 64 crore. Both units at Idar and Dalpur are located in Sabarkantha district, he noted.

Responding to UNI poser at a select press meet here today, Mr Patel said after completion of expansion project both at Idar and Dalpur, the company's total capacity of the vitrified tiles will rise to 1,34,300 MT per annum from the existing to 1,17,500 MT per annum.

This, according to him, works out to 16,000 sq mts per day from the existing capacity of 14,000 sq mts per day. Of this, wall tiles will be 16,000 sq mts per day (50,000 MT per annum) and floor tiles will be 8,500 sq mts per day (65,700 MT per annum).

To part finance the expansion, Mr Patel said Asian Granito has plans to tap the capital market some time during December this year or early January. In this context, the company had already filed the draft red herring prospectus with Securities and Exchange Board of India, which recently cleared it also.

Giving a macro picture on the domestic tiles market, Mr Patel said Indian ceramic industry comprises ceramic tiles, sanitary ware and crockery items and is about 100 years old. At present there are 33 units in the organized sector with an installed capacity of 851.5 lakh metric tonne (MT).

Growing at 12 to 15 per cent a year, the ceramic tile industry in India has been ranked 5 th in terms of production and consumption of ceramic tiles. India produced 270 million square metres of ceramic tiles, out of a global production of 6,500 million square metres during 2004-05.

UNI