Pithampur SEZ to get more investment

Madhya Pradesh-based New Tech Abrasives Ltd is planning to set up a metallic shot-and-grits manufacturing unit with an investment of Rs 30 crore. The unit will be operational from next year.

The firm, promoted by Dinesh Sharma, his wife, and industrialist Narayan Tekrival, has a unit in Raipur that produces metallic shots, grits, and ingots with a production capacity of 600 metric tonnes per month.

With this new unit, the firm's capacity will go up to 1,600 metric tonnes per month. Speaking to Business Standard, Director Sharma said, "We will start construction in Pithampur next month and expect commercial production to start next year. We plan to invest Rs 30 crore in the unit initially. A letter of intent in this regard was issued to us in New Delhi recently by MP Industry Minister Kailash Chawla recently."

Metallic shots are mostly used in processes involving ferrous or non-ferrous metals for cleaning the surfaces of castings. They are made of an alloy that is 98 per cent lead and 2 per cent arsenic.

The new unit will cover an area of 30,000 square metres and will use technology developed in the country.

Each promoter will hold 33 per cent in the venture. The new investment will increase the export basket of the firm. "We will export 60 per cent of the SEZ unit's output to the Middle East," said Sharma, adding, "the closure of a number of foundries has brightened our prospects to capture the market there".

The Raipur unit of the company generates 400 direct jobs while the proposed SEZ Indore unit will create 100 jobs. It has a good client base including Tata Motors, Mahindra & Mahindra, Kirloskar, and Kinetic Motors, and has more than 300 small-scale customers. The company is aiming at a turnover of Rs 36 crore during the first year of its operation.

The Pithampur SEZ is the first operational one in India with three units. However, the privatisation of the second phase of SEZ is still awaited. The state government has declared diluting its stake in the SEZ to make it a private entity to offer better infrastructure.