Aries Agro to up capacity by five-fold

Aries Agro Ltd, a manufacturer of plant nutritional products, is planning to set up four new manufacturing facilities by September 2008 at an investment of about Rs 40 crore.

The new facilities would enhance the company's production capacity by five-fold to 100,000 tonnes per annum, from the current 21,000 tonnes.

"As part of our expansion plans, we are setting up four new manufacturing facilities at Panvel (Maharashtra), Ahmedabad, Hyderabad and Lucknow. Our Hyderabad facility will start operations by March, while the remaining will be operational by September this year. We are investing around Rs. 40 crore for setting up the facilities," Rahul Mirchandani, executive director, Aries Agro Ltd, said.

Post expansion, the company is eyeing a turnover of Rs 200 crore by FY10. Besides, it also plans to increase its retailer network to 100,000 from 65,000 spread across 20 states.

Currently, the company has four manufacturing facilities at Mumbai, Hyderabad, Kolkata and Bangalore.

"Our total production capacity will increase five-fold from the current capacity of 21,000 tonnes per annum once the new facilities are commissioned," he added.

While the Ahmedabad facility will cover an area of 10,000 sft and have a production capacity of 19,800 tonnes per annum, the Hyderabad facility will come up on 24,000 sft with a capacity of 32,400 tonnes per annum.

Similarly, the Lucknow facility will have an area of 11,500 sft and a capacity of 10,800 tonnes per annum and the Panvel facility will cover an area of 10,000 sft and a capacity of 16,200 tonnes per annum.

The company has set a sales turnover of Rs 105 crore in 2007-08 as against Rs 74 crore achieved during 2006-07. It expects Rs 150 crore turnover during FY09.