Undettered by oversupply in the industry, Reliance Cement is planning ahead. Mr Sumit Banerjee vice chairman discusses with Pooja Sarkar the Anil Dhirubhai Ambani Group’s subsidiary plans of adding capacity and scouting for new locations measures that will pay off once the demand scenario improves in 2013-14.
Q - Please elaborate on the progress of your new projects.
A - We are setting up two plants one each in Madhya Pradesh and Maharashtra. Each will be of 5 million tonne capacity. The physical work at the MP plant has begun; it will start at the Maharashtra one in another six months. They will commence commercial operation by 2013 and end-2014 respectively. Besides, we are setting up a grinding plant at Butibori near Nagpur; that will be connected with our Maharashtra plant. We are bringing the grinding plant early, so as to couple it with the fly ash and power from the next door sister company, Reliance Power. It will start generation by mid 2012. The Butibori plant will also get commissioned and start kicking supplies in the Vidharbha market by the middle of 2012.
Q - What are your plans regarding investment in West Bengal and other parts?
A - We have plans of setting up plants in many parts of the country, including West Bengal. We are interested in Bengal, as it is the gateway to the markets of eastern India. Plus, there is a huge infrastructure gap in this area. We expect consumption demand in this region to grow significantly in the near future. We have given our proposal to WBIDC (the state’s industrial development corporation); we are awaiting the government’s approval. It will be a grinding unit, as there are no limestone reserves in the state but fly ash and slag are readily available.
Q - How much money has Reliance Cement expended till date? What are your CAPEX plans? And, are you looking for mergers and acquisitions?
A - This is a private limited company and the numbers will come in the public domain only when we go for an IPO. However, we have already spent a substantial amount of money and are committed in terms of placing of orders and putting up capacities, etc. That would entail much bigger amounts of money for our first two cement plants. We also believe in creating our own new capacities, as one can create according to one’s choice of scale, technology and design, choice of location, etc.
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