The Hindu Business Line : Usha Martin may begin production in Badajamda by October

PRODUCTION at Usha Martin Ltd's newly-acquired iron ore mine at Badajamda in the Jharkhand-Orissa border is expected to commence by October this year.

The company is also awaiting environmental clearances before commencing production at its allocated coal mine in Daltongunj, Jharkhand.

Stating this at a press conference held here to announce its audited financial results for the year ended March 31, 2004, Mr B.K. Jhawar, Chairman of Usha Martin Ltd, said 25 per cent of the company's revenue from its core business came from export sales. The company's export markets include countries in South East Asia, Middle East and Australia. Demand for its products was growing among domestic auto component makers as well.

Mr Jhawar said its Dubai facility had begun to rake in profits from the very first year of operations. No other acquisitions were being planned at the moment, he said.

Its backward integration project, involving the setting up of a 10,000 tonnes per annum DRI / sponge iron plant and a 10-MW capacity captive power plant based on waste heat recovery process, has been progressing as per schedule. The facility is expected to commence trial production by June-end.

During the year ended March 31, 2004, the company registered a total income of Rs 797.07 crore against Rs 736.72 crore in 2002-03. The profit before tax in 2003-04 stood at Rs 23.27 crore against Rs 13.35 crore in 2002-03. The profit after tax was Rs 15.52 crore against Rs 8.22 crore.