• Investment World
• eWorld
• Catalyst
• Mentor
• Life
• Canvas
• Praxis
• Urban Pulse
• Brand Quest

Stocks

• Quotes
• SE Diary
• Scoreboard
• Open-End Mutual Fund

Cross Currency

• Rates
  
  

Shipping

• Ports
  
  

Archives

• Yesterday
• Datewise
• Resources

Group Sites

• The Hindu
• Business Line
• Sportstar
• Frontline
• The Hindu eBooks
• The Hindu Images

Our Bureau

Mr Kiran K. Grandhi (in white shirt), Director, GMR Technologies and Industries Ltd, helping Mr K. Narayana Rao, Managing Director, before proceeding to the press conference in Hyderabad on Wednesday. Also seen are Mr K.V.K. Seshavataram (third from left), Chairman, and Mr V.K. Rao and Mr I. Sada Siva Gupta, Directors. — A. Roy Chowdhury

Hyderabad , May 26

BUOYED by the growth of over 276 per cent in profit before tax for the fiscal ended March 31, 2004, at Rs 16.3 crore (Rs 4.33 crore), GMR Industries Ltd, part of the Rs 2,500-crore GMR group, has decided to expand its facilities in the areas of sugar, distillery and co-generation of power.

Addressing a press conference after a board meeting for adopting the audited financial results here on Wednesday, the GMR Industries Managing Director, Mr K. Narayana Rao, said the company proposes to invest Rs 40 crore for expanding the capacities in sugar division and Rs 20 crore for enhancing the ethanol capacity in the distillery division.

The company is also weighing proposals to foray into agro-related businesses, such as bio-diesel. According to Mr Rao, the company was awaiting the policy decision of the government on bio-diesel and incentives in the field to decide on investments. The company has already identified 2,000 acres near its manufacturing facilities in the Srikakulam district of Andhra Pradesh.

GMR Industries currently has a sugarcane crushing capacity of 3,125 tonnes per day. It proposes to increase the capacity to 5,000 TPD by the crushing season 2006-07 at an investment of Rs 40 crore, Mr Rao said.

GMR Industries has also decided to enhance capacities for manufacturing ethanol from captive molasses in the distillery. While the current capacity stands at 40 kilolitres per day, it plans to increase the capacity to 100 KLPD at an investment of Rs 20 crore.

For the fiscal 2003-04, the company achieved a turnover of Rs 278.05 crore, recording a growth of 24 per cent over Rs 224.75 crore in the previous fiscal. The GMR Industries Chairman, Mr K.V.K. Seshavataram, attributed the improved performance to various steps, including debt repayment, divestment from certain businesses, emphasis on operational efficiency and thrust on exports.

According to Mr Narayana Rao, the company has recorded a substantial reduction in borrowings by conserving cash generation in the last three years and using proceeds from divestment of its erstwhile breweries division for debt repayment. The quantum of loan from the financial institutions and banks that stood at Rs 165 crore in March 2001 came down to Rs 92 crore by March 2004.

Further, most of the term loans and working capital were converted into foreign currency loan at lower LIBOR-linked interest rates at 6 per cent, he said.

More Stories on : New Projects | Financial Performance | Sugar

Article E-Mail :: Comment :: Syndication :: Printer Friendly Page

Stories in this Section
Delays hit clinical trials of India-specific AIDS vaccine

Copyright © 2004, The Hindu Business Line. Republication or redissemination of the contents of this screen are expressly prohibited without the written consent of The Hindu Business Line