Buys 18 acre land adjacent to its existing plant.
Buoyed by the early signs of revival in the economy, Delhi-based Somany Ceramics Ltd. is setting up a greenfield plant for wall and floor tiles near Ahmedabad. The company, which is expanding production capacity in tiles, has bought a 18 acre land for Rs 3 crore adjacent to its existing plant in Kadi.
Refusing to divulge investment details for the new plant, Abhishek Somany, joint managing director of Somany Ceramics Ltd. said, "We have bought a large piece of land close to our existing tiles manufacturing plant at Kadi where we intend to set up a new greenfield plant. The new greenfield plant will be three times bigger than the existing one in terms of value and two times bigger in terms of volume. We had to buy more space in Kadi since we were landlocked there."
Currently, the company is adding another 7,000-9,000 sq metres per day to its existing plant in Haryana for an investment of Rs 40 crore. "The expanded capacity at our Haryana plant should commission by March 2010 and add another Rs 60 crore to our revenue. In the long run, our strategy is to deepen our presence in wall and floor tiles through our own plants in Haryana and Gujarat, and deepen our presence in vitrified tiles through contract manufacturing," Somany added.
About 60 per cent of the company's revenue comes from Gujarat plant at Kadi which has a capacity of 15,000-16,000 sq metres per day.
Apart from an investment of Rs 40 crore, in last 18 months, Somany Ceramics Ltd. has invested around Rs 80 crore for expansion of tiles manufacturing capacity at its Haryana plant. In all, the company now has a tiles manufacturing capacity of 48,000 sq metres per day.
Having pegged a turnover of Rs 460 crore last year, the company plans to grow at a rate of 20 per cent and earn a revenue of Rs 550 crore by end of financial year 2009-10. Of the Rs 4,600 crore market of wall and floor tiles in India, Somany Ceramics Ltd. hold a 10 per cent share.
