Dalmia Bharat to invest Rs 9,000 crore in expanding cement capacity

Dalmia Bharat plans to raise its cement capacity to more than 48 million tonnes (MT) by the end of fiscal 2024, up from 35.9 MT now, with an expenditure of Rs 9,000 crore (US$ 1.2 billion) in new plants, expansion of existing facilities, acquisitions, and debottlenecking of production.

said Puneet Dalmia, managing director of Dalmia Bharat said, “We have an ongoing project of 2.5 MT, greenfield of 3 MT, brownfield of 1.7 MT and upgradation of around 5.3 MT. This will take the capacity to 48.4 MT by March of FY24.”

According to Dalmia, the company has finalised land in Tamil Nadu's Chennai and Tuticorin for two grinding plants, and is in the final stages of finalising land in Bihar for a new project. “We strongly believe in the growth story of India and the capex cycle has begun,” said Dalmia.

On the basis of weak demand and severe cost pressure, the company posted a consolidated net profit of Rs. 103 crores (US$ 13.7 million) in the December quarter of FY22, down 44 percent year on year. “The long-term view on the sector is that demand is strong, and I'm of the firm opinion that there is going to be a huge infrastructure build in the country and big housing growth. We have been a little ahead of the curve and we announced our expansion plans in October,” Dalmia said.

In addition, the corporation is investing in cost-cutting technologies. In Odisha, the company is also experimenting with electric vehicles, including electric trucks. "If that works well, we will be investing in EVs," he said. For the next few years, the company wants to keep its net debt-free status. The company's net debt-to-EBITDA ratio is negative 0.64.

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