The Hindu Business Line : `Somany' proposes to set up new manufacturing facility in AP

SPL Ltd, manufacturers of floor and wall tiles under the `Somany' brand name, plans a greenfield tiles manufacturing plant in Andhra Pradesh to consolidate its market presence in the South.

The company, which invested about Rs 40 crore to expand its tiles manufacturing capacity in its two plants — one each in Haryana and Gujarat — expects to grow by 25 per cent during the current fiscal as against the industry average of 15 per cent as the impact of the capacity expansion is expected to be felt fully during the current fiscal.

Speaking to Business Line, Mr Abhishek Somany, Executive Director, SPL Ltd of Kassar, Haryana, said that the company was looking at establishing a greenfield plant for the manufacture of floor and wall tiles in the South. Since the availability of the raw material — clay and natural gas were crucial for the establishment of the plant, the company was looking at the KG basin/Kakinada area in Andhra Pradesh. While the financial outlay for the project has not been finalised yet, he said the production capacity would be in the region of 10,000 sq mt per day.

He said the company had invested about Rs 40 crore for augmenting the capacity in its two plants to 37,500 sq mt per day of wall and floor tiles. He expected the company to record a 25 per cent growth during the current fiscal as against the industry average of 15 per cent. Regarding Chinese imports, he said the Chinese tiles, serving the lower-end of the market suffered from poor quality and did not pose any threat to the quality domestic producers. The upper end of Chinese products were comparable to Indian products.

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