Wonder Cement to invest Rs 2,500 cr to expand capacity to 11MT

Wonder Cement, a part of RK Marble Group, today said it is planning to invest around Rs 2,500 crore for setting up three units in Dhule in Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh and Haryana and increase capacity to 11 million tonne in next three years.

"We have 5.2 million tonne installed capacity and hope to increase to 11 million tonne by 2020. We are setting up two million tonne grinding unit at Dhule in Maharashtra, for which we expect to receive environment clearance next month and commence production by June 2018," Wonder Cement Managing Director J C Toshniwal told PTI here.

The company is also setting up two more grinding units at Madhya Pradesh and Haryana having around four million tonne capacity, which will be ready by 2020, alongwith, adding second line of production at its existing unit at Rajasthan, Toshniwal said.
 

The Maharashtra project will cost Rs 450 crore, while MP and Haryana units will need funding of around Rs 1,900 crore, which will be financed through internal accruals and debt, he said.

"The cement industry is evolving rapidly and as we prepare for the next phase of the company's growth after marginal slowdown following demonetisation last year. The demand has picked up in February, March and April this year, supported by higher prices," he added.

The company is now focussing its efforts on increasing market share by creating a distinctive positioning in the market place.

It is looking at expanding footprints in Nashik, Dhule, Jalgaon, Pune, Aurangabad and Thane districts of Maharasthra through its proposed new unit in Maharashtra.

Some of the recent government initiatives such as development of 100 smart cities, housing for all by 2022, and post-monsoon commencement of several infrastructure projects are expected to provide a major boost to the sector, Toshniwal added.

As part of its CSR initiative, the company has launched project to serve pure drinking water to 16 lakh people in 46 cities across Gujarat, Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh

and Rajasthan.

It has identified prominent areas and covering 40,000 kms for supplying safe and clean drinking water, Wonder Cement President (Marketing) Sailesh Mohta said.