N Srinivasan, Vice Chairman and Managing Director of India Cements informed that the firm explores an opportunity to expand its capacity in Rajasthan at an investment of around Rs 650-700 crore.
The plan comes on the backdrop of growing demand in Gujarat and Madhya Pradesh. Present capacity of the plant is 1.3 million tonne and the company plans to add one more line with similar capacity. The expansion would help the company to cater Gujarat and Madhya Pradesh markets, he said.
The firm feels that Gujarat market is growing well and the demand is also high. India Cements current manufacturing capacity is 15.5 mn t with plants in Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh and Rajasthan. At present the company’s capacity utilisation is around 70 percent in South India, which reported a flat growth, while All India demand grew by 6 percent.
On net plant realisation, he said, in third quarter it was Rs 3,360 as compared to Rs 3,460, a year ago. The drop was due to slow down in demand.
India Cements net profit dropped to Rs 26.12 crore in third quarter from Rs 56.31 crore, a year ago. Total income rose to Rs 1,083.88 crore from Rs 943.95 crore.