CEE Oct-Dec 2012

. Going by industry estimates of about Rs 550- 600 crore investments needed for every million tonne addition to capacity, the envisaged investment will be in the range of about Rs 1,800 crore. There is no land cost as the expansions are brownfield. The power plant will be an additional Rs 240 crore. Company's focus India Cements has focussed on energy security with captive power plants totalling over 100 MW being commissioned recently. A 50 MW unit has come up at Sankar Nagar, Tamil Nadu, and another at Vishnupuram, Andhra Pradesh. Courtesy: The Hindu Business Line, Chennai, 25.10.2012. J K LAKSHMI MAY INVEST RS. 350 CR IN UDAIPUR PLANT J K Lakshmi Cements plant to spend Rs. 350 crore to revive its Udaipur plant as part of its move to augment capacity. "We will spend nearly Rs. 350 crore to revive the operations. This will help us add nearly 1.4 million tonnes to our existing capacity, thus enabling us to cater to the growing demand," said J K Lakshmi whole-time director Shailendra Chouksey. Of the Rs. 350 crore, over Rs. 100 crore will have to be brought in by JK Lakshmi and the rest will be debt, said Chouksey, adding, "All this has been lined up". Courtesy: The Economic Times Mumbai, 29.10.2012. MEGA CEMENT PLANT TO COME UP IN KARNATAKA'S CHINCHOLI Shiva Shankar Minerals is to set up a mega cement manufacturing plant and a 50 mw captive power generation unit at Burigpally and Ghanapur, in Chincholi taluk of Gulbarga district of Karnataka. The project currently requires an investment of Rs 2,250 crore. According to the officials the plant will require 1,500 acres of land which will be allotted by the State Revenue Department in Burigpally and Ghanapur villages. The water required will be drawn from the Mulamri River and the power will be suppl ied by Gulbarga Electricity Supply Company until its own captive generation unit becomes operational. Courtesy: Indian Cement Review, Sep. 2012, P10. ULTRA TECH TO INCREASE CAPACITY BY 19% UltraTech is planning a 19 per cent increase in capacity by the next fiscal year, as per Kumar Mangalam Birla, Chairman. He said that over the medium to long term, the sector offers good growth potential. However, the sector is undoubtedly facing some tough challenges said he in a statement released after the company's annual shareholder meeting. Courtesy: Indian Cement Review, Sep. 2012, P10. ULTRA TECH TO SPEND RS. 12,000 CR TILL 2014 Ultra Tech Cement ltd, the country's largest cement maker, will spend Rs. 12,000 crore till fiscal 2014 on expanding its production capacity to 62 million tonnes (mt), Chairman Kumar Mangalam Birl a told shareholders at the company's annual general meeting (AGM) in Mumbai on 30th August 2012. "The total capex under implementation is around Rs. 12,000 crore. It will be funded through a judicious mix of internal accruals and borrowings," said Birla, adding that most of these projects "will go on stream in early FY 14". Of the entire capex lined up, a third has been spent last fiscal and about Rs. 8,000 crore will be invested between now and QIFY14. The investment is going into "clinkerization plants at Chhattisgarh and Karnataka together with grinding plants", "bulk packaging terminal", "ready mix concrete plants" and "waste-heat recovery systems'' all of which put together will augment cement maker's capacity by 10.2 mt to 62 mt annually. Birla said fiscal 2012 was challenging due to the "slow pace of housing and infrastructure development" and energy, freight costs that "spiked with no respite". He added that the short– term prospects for the industry seemed "bearish". "With the industry's proposed capacity expansion of around 71 mt between FY 13 and FY 15, it will be no different for the next two to three years," he added. Courtesy: The Mint, Mumbai, 31.8. 2012. 10