Birla Corporation Limited, the flagship company of the MP Birla group, is planning to expand its cement manufacturing capacity by setting up greenfield units, a senior company official said today. Speaking to reporters on the sidelines of the companys 87th annual general meeting, chairman and managing director, Mr RS Lodha said details of the expansion would be finalised soon. He said the liquidity of the company was very good and with a high borrowing capacity, Birla Corporation was well poised to set up greenfield units. The current installed capacity of the company is 5.78Mt. Mr Lodha said that as a concurrent exercise, the company would also go for brownfield expansion at its Chanderia and Satna plants. This would entail an additional capacity of 1.75Mt, which was expected to be completed by 2009. Our vision is to have an annual capacity of 10Mt by the year 2010, Mr Lodha said.
Mr Lodha said the company was also exploring the possibility of acquisition of units, provided it was a commercial proposition, he added. The cement business of the company contributed more than 92 per cent of Birla Corporations revenue. Mr Lodha said that the cement boom had benefited the company to a large extent. He said that Birla Corporation was in the number four position in terms of operating margins as per a comparison made by the Cement Manufacturers Association.
