JSW Cement plans Rs 2,500 crore investment in Karnataka

Bengaluru: JSW Cement Ltd, a part of the $11 billion JSW Group, is planning to set up a 3 million tonnes per annum (mtpa) clinkerisation plant at Chittapur in Gulbarga district at an estimated cost of Rs 2,500 crore.

The company presently operates three plants with a combined capacity of 6 mtpa cement plants at Vijayanagar in Karnataka, Dolvi in Maharashtra and Nandyal (4.8 million tonnes per annum) in Andhra Pradesh.

Clinkerisation is the heart of cement manufacturing process.

"Gulbarga project is still in preliminary stages and we have approached the ministry of environment and forests (MoEF) for permissions. It will take at least two to three years to materialise," Pankaj Kulkarni, Director, JSW Cement Ltd told Business Standard.

He said the 3 mtpa clinker capacity at Gulbarga will help the company manufacture 6 mtpa cement at different places. The new plant is part of the company's expansion programme. It intends to expand its capacity to 25 mtpa by 2025.

JSW Cement manufactures only Portland slag cement, for which it gets slag, the key raw material from its steel plants in Vijayanagar and Dolvi.

The Portland slag cement accounts for about 7 per cent of the total cement business in the country. Out of 360 million tonnes of cement sold annually, PSC accounts for about 23 million tonnes. Of this, JSW Cement contributes 6 million tonnes or about 26 per cent.

The company is also in the advanced stages of expanding the grinding capacity at Vijayanagar to 0.8 million tonnes per annum from 0.6 million tonnes per annum. It also operates a 0.6 mtpa grinding unit at Dolvi.

"We have been allotted limestone deposits at Chitapur in Gulbarga district. WE have to start exploration and assess the exact quantity of limestone deposits. We are working with Karnataka government for establishing the clinkerisation plant," Kulkarni said.

"We have been allotted limestone deposits at Chitapur in Gulbarga district. WE have to start exploration and assess the exact quantity of limestone deposits. We are working with Karnataka government for establishing the clinkerisation plant," Kulkarni said.

JSW Cement will expand its capacity wherever JSW Steel sets up steel plants. JSW Steel is currently in the process of setting up a steel plant in Jharkhand as part of its plans to increase the steel capacity to 40 million tonnes per annum from 14.3 mtpa, he said.

He said JSW Cement is currently selling its Portland slag cement across south India and southern parts of Maharashtra and Odisha.

In addition to cement, JSW has also ventured into manufacture of grounded granulated BF Slag (GGBS), which is used in manufacture of Ready Mix Concrete (RMC) and site mix plants. The company is supplying GGBS to Bangalore Metro Rail Corporation. Annually, it sells one million tonnes of GGBS.

Disclaimer: This information has been collected through secondary research and IBEF is not responsible for any errors in the same.