Nilkamal Plastics Ltd, one of the largest moulded plastic furniture company, has commissioned its Rs 15-crore plant at Vassona, Silvassa. The plant has gone on stream three weeks ahead of schedule.
The Vassona unit has an installed capacity of 2,640 tonne per annum (tpa) and is expected to contribute Rs 20 crore to the company's turnover.
The company now has five manufacturing facilities _ two at Silvassa, one each at Sinnar, Pondicherry and Noida.
The commissioning of the Vasona unit is part of the Rs 45-crore expansion plan undertaken by Nilkamal to augment its capacity by nearly 50 per cent to 36,780 tpa. The expansion is being carried out by enhancing the capacities of its existing units at Pondicherry and Noida and setting up new plants at Silvassa and Barjora in West Bengal.
According to Nilkamal chairman Vamanbhai Parekh, the Pondicherry unit expansion of 2880 tpa has been completed at a cost of Rs 5 crore. The Noida expansion would be complete by January 2000 for Rs 8 crore. He said the company's new unit at Barjora would have a capacity of 4860 tpa and entail a capital expenditure of Rs 17 crore. The plant is expected to go on stream by March 2000.
Parekh said the expansions would help the company to substantially enlarge its market size and penetrate new markets. The geographical positioning of its plants will aid Nilkamal in understanding regional demand patterns better and improve the speed in responding to them, he added.
The cost of the expansion is being met through internal accruals and a Rs 20-crore term loan from ICICI Ltd. In the first year after the expansion i.e. 2000-2001, the company hopes to achieve a turnover of Rs 330 crore. Meanwhile, the company's Sri Lankan joint venture company, Nilkamal Eswaran Plastics, has also commenced production after the capacity expansion. The joint venture had planned to hike capacity to 4000 tonne per annum from the current level of 2500 tonne.
Nilkamal Eswaran is a joint venture between Nilkamal Plastics and Eswaran Brothers, one of Sri Lanka's largest traders. In the first seven months, the joint venture had posted a turnover of SLR 18 crore. <
