Birla Corporation said it is aiming to almost double its cement manufacturing capacity to 30 million tons per annum in the next five years by 2027. It has an “aggressive expansion plan” and will expand in markets where it has an edge over its competitors, MP Birla Group Chairman Harsh V Lodha said while addressing the shareholders of the company at the AGM, a company statement said on Monday.
“Plans are afoot to reach a target of 30 MTPA by 2027,” Lodha told shareholders.
He further said details of the plans are to be announced when they are firmed up and approved by the board of the company.
This is a new target set for the company which had earlier said it would raise its production capacity to 25 MTPA by 2025, the statement said.
Birla Corporation has a current production capacity is 15.6 mt and is expected to go up to almost 20 MTPA by the end of the current fiscal year, when its greenfield 3.9 MTPA plant at Mukutban, near Nagpur, is commissioned.
Compared with legacy assets of the company, new plants are going to be more efficient and profitable, said Lodha.
The plants of RCCPL Pvt. Ltd (the erstwhile Reliance Cement Co. Pvt. Ltd which was acquired in 2016), a subsidiary of Birla Corporation Limited, are among the best in India judged by operating parameters, he added.
The aggressive expansion plan is reflective of the company’s improving profitability and cash flow, it added.
According to Lodha, demand for cement is projected to get stronger and Birla Corporation will expand in markets where it has an edge over competitors.
While Birla Corporation’s newly-appointed Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer said the company has enough limestone reserves to last decades at its current scale of operations.
Birla Corporation Limited is the flagship Company of the MP Birla Group, which has interests in cement and jute goods industries. It currently operates 10 cement plants spread across the country.
