Grasim seeks govt nod to buy Cement Corp's MP plant

Grasim Cement of the AV Birla Group has approached the heavy industry department with a proposal to buy Cement Corporation of India's 1.4 million-tonnes-per-annum Nayagaon plant in Madhya Pradesh.

Cement Corporation of India, which has 10 plants with an installed capacity of 3.8 million tonnes, is registered with the Board for Industrial and Financial Reconstruction.

Though Grasim Cement executives did not respond to an e-mail on the subject, a company executive said the AV Birla group company had earlier taken a CCI plant on lease. The location of the Nayagaon plant was of strategic importance, the executive added.

Smaller players like Dalmia Cements have shown an interest in CCI's Adilabad plant in Andhra Pradesh. In Chhattisgarh, Chidambara Steel & Power Ltd wants to acquire the Mandhar facility, while Rashmi Cement is eyeing the Akaltara plant.

In 2002, the Cabinet had approved the closure of seven units of CCI, including the ones in Nayagaon, Mandhar, Akaltara and Adilabad. Today, the Board for Reconstruction of Public Sector Enterprises also suggested a revival of only three of the 10 plants. The move is estimated to cost Rs 186 crore.

The cost of reviving the Nayagaon plant is estimated at nearly Rs 400 crore. The public sector company's share in the country's total cement production is estimated at 0.5 per cent.