 "Dr Reddy's to expand capacity of manufacturing units in Telangana")
The company has approached the Ministry of Environment and Forests for necessary approvals for expanding the combined capacity of three facilities to over 142 tonnes per month from existing 41 tonnes, according to minutes of the meeting held last month by Expert Appraisal Committee under MoEF.
Dr Reddy's Laboratories, Chemical Techops-II has proposed for expansion of bulk drugs and intermediates manufacturing unit (from 21.9 TPM to 68.76 TPM) in Telangana's Medak district.
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It proposes to expand the API manufacturing capacity from 21.9 TPM to 68.76 TPM in an area of 16.81 acres (existing 13.27 acres & additional proposed 3.54 acres), EAC said.
"The capital cost for expansion is Rs 40 crore, towards modernisation of zero liquid discharge facility, debottlenecking..." EAC said in case of one of the three plants.
The capital cost for expansion of other two plants would be Rs 30 crore and Rs 12 crore while the capacities would go up to 45.5 TPM and 28.1 TPM, respectively, for both the plants, it further said.
When contacted, a Dr Reddy's spokesperson said the company planned to spend Rs 1,000 crore towards capex during the current financial year.
"We have spent approx Rs 675 crore during the past three quarters in FY15. Full year FY15 plan may be around Rs 1,000 crore or so. FY16 numbers cannot be communicated at the moment," the DRL official told PTI.
The manufacturing capacities of some of the fast moving drugs such as Omeprazole, Atorvastatin, Ciprofloxacin HCL, Fondaparinux Sodium, Metoprolol Succinate, Clopidogrel Bisulphate and Fexofenadine Hydrochloride are set to go up considerably once the expansion takes place, the EAC note added.
Shares of Dr Reddy's were trading at Rs 3,097.90 apiece, up 0.21 per cent, on BSE even as the benchmark Sensex was down by 0.58 per cent at 1530 hrs.