The city-based Emami Group is planning to expand its cement manufacturing capacity to 15-20 million tonnes (mt) from the current 5.5 million tonnes in the next three to five years, a company director said on Monday.
"We would like to expand cement capacity to 15-20 mt in the next three to five years. We think cement business will add value to both bottom-line and top-line of our group. We expect our cement division's turnover to be Rs 2,500 crore in 2018-19," group's Director Aditya V. Agarwal said.
Around 70 per cent of the country's cement consumption is in household segment and the group will focus on this segment to grow business, he said.
With two new grinding units coming up at Panagarh in Burdwan district of West Bengal and Odisha's Cuttack district, the company has been focusing on eastern India and eastern part of Maharashtra in the initial phases. Grinding units in West Bengal and Odisha are expected to be operational by January 2017 and January 2018, respectively.
Group's Director Manish Goenka also said eastern India would be the "biggest scope" for its cement business in terms of sales growth on account of huge infrastructure spending in the region and low base effect.
For expanding its cement manufacturing capacity, it will set up two new integrated plants (clinker plant and grinding unit) in Andhra Pradesh and Rajasthan. "We will be making additional investment of Rs 5,000 crore for the two integrated plants," he said.
The Rs 10,000 crore conglomerate started cement production at its integrated plant in Chhattisgarh in July this year, with a committed investment of Rs 3,000 crore.
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Global consulting firm McKinsey is advising it on the marketing strategies for its cement business.
--IANS
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