The Hindu Business Line : Nava Bharat Ferro plans Rs 250-cr expansion

SOARING ferro alloy prices, the new power tariff order in Andhra Pradesh, and the revival in sugar industry have prompted the management of Nava Bharat Ferro Alloys Ltd (NBFAL) to take up a Rs 250-crore expansion.

The Hyderabad-based company plans to invest Rs 180-crore in the power division for adding another 60MW capacity, over Rs 40-crore towards de-bottlenecking of ferro alloys unit in Orissa and capacity addition at Andhra Pradesh unit, and over Rs 20-crore towards expanding the crushing capacity in sugar division and co-generation of power using bagasse, a senior NBFAL official told Business Line.

According to him, the thrust area for ferro alloys division would be control on ores. The allocation of chrome ore mines would be pursued with vigour while the acquisition of mining companies would be the choice in the case of manganese ore.

Its de-bottlenecking exercise to be completed this fiscal in Orissa envisages increase in the production volume by increasing the power throughput, apart from increasing mechanisation and replacing the pollution control equipment. The expansion at its ferro alloys plant in AP and the resultant increase in the production volumes in both AP and Orissa units would lower the fixed costs and increase competitiveness further, the NBFAL official said.

In the power division, the company proposes to optimally utilise the capacity of 80MW mostly in-house to obtain higher value-addition and sell the surplus power, if any.

"We view that our AP power plant is ideally suited to capitalise on such an investment plan in view of the ready infrastructure and also the capabilities of the in-house project team. Accordingly, we propose to increase the generation capacity suitably as a brown field expansion," he said.

More Stories on : New Projects | Bearings | tings & Forgings

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