Gulshan Sugars to produce GCC from April '07

New Delhi, Nov 21: Gulshan Sugars&Chemicals Ltd, a producer of calcium carbonate in the organised sector, today announced plans to foray into ground calcium carbonate (GCC) production for which it is setting up a 20,000 tonne-per-annum manufacturing unit in Uttar Pradesh at a total outlay of Rs 27 crore.

''The new manufacturing plant in Muzaffarnagar will be a part of the existing facility of the company and will include a captive power plant with a total capacity of three megawatt, in which the company will invest Rs 15 crore,'' company Director (Finance) A K Maheshwari told reporters here.

"The plant will be operational by April 2007," he added.

The company's present facility in Muzaffarnagar, which is a zero excise zone, is operating at a total capacity of 70,000 tonnes per annum.

The company also announced a follow-on public offer of Rs 26.50 crore to part finance the project. The issue, which will be open from tomorrow and close on November 28, offers 66 lakh equity shares of eight rupees each at a premium of Rs 32 per share.

It has also received loan of eight crore rupees from IDBI bank to finance its expanison plans.

''GCC has a big market in India, where about 30 million tonnes of it are being imported every year. Being the only company to take-up the production of this product, we expect to capture a major chunk of this market,'' Mr Maheshwari said.

GCC is used in the manufacture of paper, paints, tyre and automobile. The paper industry, which is seeing a growth of 15 per cent per annum, alone accounts for 15-23 per cent of the total demand. And this industry will be the main focus of our operations in this sector, he added.

Gulshan Sugars had earned a net profit of Rs 2.03 crore during the first half of the current fiscal.

UNI