Maithan Alloy to invest Rs 350 crore for expansion

KOLKATA: Country's largest manganese alloy producer Maithan Alloy Ltd on Wednesday said it would invest Rs 350 crore for setting up two greenfield manganese alloy plants to meet the growing demand from global steel firms.

"We are installing a plant in Meghalaya and one in Andhra Pradesh. The total combined capacity of the two plants would be 1.38 lakh tonnes per annum," Maithan Alloy Managing Director S C Agarwalla said here.

The Meghalaya plant would cost Rs 80 crore and would be operational by the last quarter of fiscal 2009, while the 1.2 lakh tonne per annum Andhra Pradesh unit would cost Rs 275 crore.

"We are already the largest manganese alloy producer and will become 2.5 times bigger than the nearest competitor by 2011. The entire investment will be from internal accruals and debt," Agarwalla said.

The company has also bought a manganese ore block in Orissa from a private owner and has applied for environmental clearances. The mine would help feed about 20 per cent of the ore requirement for the next 20 years. The company is also planning to set up another mine in Madhya Pradesh.

The company has a 94,000 tonnes per annum capacity manganese alloy plant in Kalyaneswari in Burdwan district.
"We are eyeing a turnover of Rs 940 crore in the current fiscal with a current market share of 10 per cent and a Rs 2,000 crore turnover by 2011," Maithan Alloy President Sudhanshu Agarwalla said.

Maithan Alloy Ltd is promoted by Maithan Group and BMA Group.