Nissan Copper, a leading semi-finished copper products maker, is set to make a new plant operational this month which is likely to result in an over 150 per cent surge in its turnover in FY 11 to Rs 325 crore.
The new plant, which will manufacture inner groove copper tubes used for air-conditioning and refrigeration, will be the first-of-its-kind in India.
India currently imports the entire requirement of around 48,000 tonnes of copper tubes which comes to around $480 million.
"Our products have a ready demand...Additionally, the annual growth of over 15 per cent in the AC and refrigeration markets in India will also be very helpful," the company's Managing Director, Ratan Mardia, told PTI here.
"The plant will be operational by July-end and the commercial operations start in September. Courtesy the capacity addition, our sales in FY 11 will touch Rs 325 crore which we plan to take up to Rs 550 crore in FY 12," he said.
The new facility, built near Silvassa over the last 18 months at a capex of Rs 108 crore, will have a capacity of 1,000 tonnes a month.
Mardia said the company also expects a jump in its Profit After Tax (PAT) to Rs 15 crore in 2010-11 from last year's Rs 9.1 crore and will increase more as the plant achieves optimum utilisation.
Nissan Copper had raised a debt of Rs 66 crore for the new plant from State Bank of India and Union Bank of India and managed the remaining Rs 42 crore through a combination of internal accruals and issue of warrants, he said.
The company supplies to a host of sectors like petrochem, atomic energy, defence, telecom, auto and ship-building but Mardia said the key focus currently is the ACR (air conditioning and refrigeration) sector.
"It (ACR) is growing at over 15 per cent per annum for the last two-three years. We see a good opportunity there and will continue to focus on it," he said.