Mahi Granites charts Rs 25-crore spread

Plans to acquire sick granite unit in Tamil Nadu

Mahi Granites Private Ltd (MGPL) has embarked upon a Rs 25-crore expansion plan and is planning to acquire a sick granite unit at Chinglepat in Tamil Nadu. The Hyderabad-based company, which is engaged in the export of granite slabs and blocks, is targeting a turnover of Rs 100 crore in the next three years.

According to MGPL managing director G Krishna Rao, the company needs additional manufacturing facility to meet its growing export orders. At present, the company has taken on lease Star Granites Private Limited near Chennai and has a tie-up with two other factories in Hyderabad for the production of granite slabs.

Started in 2004, MGPL exported one lakh square metres of granite slabs and posted a turnover of Rs 25 crore in the first year of its operations. Given the export orders for the current year, "the company's turnover is going to touch Rs 50 crore in 2005-06," Rao told Business Standard.

He said that the company, which was operating two black galaxy granite quarries in Cheemakurthi of Andhra Pradesh, has acquired another quarry near Khammam in the state. This apart, the company was importing granite blocks from Saudi Arabia and Finland to meet its export orders. By December this year, MGPL would start importing granite blocks from South Africa and Norway.

On the other hand, Rao said, the company was exporting raw granite blocks to China and processed slabs to the US, Europe and Australia. In view of its export performance, the Chemicals & Allied Products Export Promotion Council (Capexil), sponsored by the Union ministry of commerce and industry, has awarded the Certificate of Merit to MGPL for the year 2004-05.

Rao said that there was a good demand for Indian and Brazilian granite products in the international market. With the global demand for granite slabs growing at a rate of 30 per cent annually, granite companies in the country were poised to register a healthy growth, he said.