NE BUSINESS BUREAU
CHENNAI, FEB 3
Claiming that the company has a vast land of 26,000 acres, this land bank will be monetised to refurbish old cement plants, announced a senior official of India Cements Ltd here on Friday.
Speaking to the media on company’s third quarter results for the fiscal 2022-23, Chairman and Managing Director N Srinivasan, said, “We are looking at refurbishing our old plants located in Andhra Pradesh and Telungana at an outlay of Rs 1,500 crore to Rs 1,600 crore to be funded internally.”
- The company has a vast land of 26,000 acres and the funds will be raised by monetising the land bank
- The refurbishment programme will start with Malkapur and Vishnupuram plants in Telangana: N Srinivasan
- Cement major posts Rs 90.73 crore net profit in third quarter
Suffering a production cost disadvantage of about Rs 500 per ton as compared to the best in the market and in order to be at par with competition, India Cements has decided to refurbish its plants in Andhra Pradesh and Telangana acquired two decades back, Vice Chairman and Managing Director N Srinivasan said.
“The programme is estimated to cost Rs 1,500 crore to Rs 1,600 crore and will take about 15 to 18 months for completion,” the CMD added.
Talking about the funding, Srinivasan said, “The cost of refurbishment is proposed to be funded internally and it will not go for bank borrowing or raising debt. The company has a vast land of 26,000 acres and the funds will be raised by monetising the land bank,” Srinivasan said.
The company has engaged Krupp Polysius and FL Smidth and submit their report on making the plants efficient.
“We have asked the experts to submit their report as how to make these plants as efficient to be on par with the competition. They are expected to submit the report soon,” he said.
According to Srinivasan, the refurbishment when started will take about 15 to 18 months to complete.
Since India Cements has a basket of vintage plants and technology with varying operating parameters, this has pushed the cost of production against its peers, he said.
The company has plants in AP and Telangana and they were acquired two decades ago.
In terms of consumption of fuel (coal and oil) and power, India Cements has found it is incurring an additional cost of Rs 500 per tonne of cement produced compared to the most efficient players in the industry.
The revamp programme is aimed at addressing this cost difference and improve the operational parameters of plants.
According to Srinivasan, the refurbishment programme will start with Malkapur and Vishnupuram plants in Telangana. It will not cover its modern plants like Sankari in Tamil Nadu and Banswara in Rajasthan.
India Cements has eight integrated cement plants – two plants in Andhra Pradesh at Chilamkur and Yerraguntla, two in Telangana at Vishnpuram and Malkapur, one at Banswara in Rajasthan, three in Tamil Nadu at Sankarnagar, Sankari and Dalavoi and two grinding units one near Chennai and the other at Parli in Maharashtra.
The combined production capacity is about 16 million ton per annum.
Srinivasan also said the company will increase volume of cement and sell more blended cement.
Cement major posts Rs 90.73 crore net profit in third quarter
Aided by Rs 294.28 crore profit on sale of investments, India Cements closed Q3 of FY23 with a net profit of Rs 90.73 crore.
India Cements closed the quarter ended December 31, 2022 with a revenue from operations of Rs 1,219.46 crore (Q3FY22 Rs 1,108.46 crore) and a net profit of Rs 90.73 crore (Rs 3.30 crore).
The exceptional income item of Rs 294.28 crore is the profit on sale of investments made in Springway Mining Private Ltd.
According to India Cements, during the quarter under review, the company concluded the sale of investment held in its subsidiary Springway Mining Private Ltd (SMPL) for an agreed consideration of Rs 476.88 crore vide share purchase agreement (SPA) on October 10, 2022.
