The Hindu Business Line : Eveready to integrate Chennai facilities

For this, Eveready has already signed an agreement with Khivraj Tech Park Ltd, a company promoted by the Chennai-based Khivraj group, which is active in real estate and automobile dealerships.

In a communication to the stock exchanges today, Eveready said that it will shift its plant at Guindy, located in an industrial estate in the southern part of the city, to Tiruvottiyur, a northern industrial suburb, where the company has a plant.

The Guindy plant was established in 1971 and has a production capacity of 240 million batteries a year.

The Tiruvottiyur plant, set up in 1952, has an output of 210 million batteries a year.

The shifting of the Guindy plant is expected to be completed by January 2005, according to the company.

The integrated plant will have a capacity of up to 450 million batteries a year.

This is expected to result in a higher economy of scale and improved level of productivity with reduction in unit cost of production, it added.

A company spokesperson said that Eveready manufactures `AA' and `B' size batteries in Chennai.

There would not be any retrenchment of workers; those employed at the Guindy plant have been absorbed in the Tiruvottiyur facility.

Under the agreement with Khivraj Tech Park, the latter has made an upfront payment of Rs 25 crore to Eveready and will also deliver 20 per cent of the built-up area together with proportionate car parking spaces for the company to dispose of.

Khivraj Tech Park plans to construct a 1-million-sq ft building on the 8.39 acres it has got from Eveready. This means that Eveready will get 2,00,000 sq ft of built-up space as part of the agreement.

When contacted, Mr Ajit Kumar Chordia, Managing Director of Khivraj Tech Park, said that Khivraj had earlier bought one acre from Eveready.

Taking this area into account, Khivraj would construct a total of 1.2 million sq ft of space for the IT industry.

The cost of the project, including the land cost, would be Rs 220 crore.

Khivraj would have to bring in 30 per cent of the amount. It has tied up with a bank for funds and is in the process of tying up with another bank. This process would be completed shortly.

For Eveready, the deal would work out to about Rs 95 crore - Rs 25 crore for the land and Rs 70 crore it could expect to get by selling the 2,00,000 sq ft it is entitled to under the agreement, Mr Chordia said.

The proposed building would come up in three phases: the first phase would cover 5.50 lakh sq ft and would be ready for delivery by December 2006; the second phase of four lakh sq ft by July-August 2006 and the third phase of 2.5 lakh sq ft a few months later.

Mr Chordia is confident of selling all the space as he feels Guindy is a much better location compared to Old Mahabalipuram Road for IT companies.

The proposed building would be "green building" certified, he said, adding that this would be a unique selling proposition for the project.

As a green building, it would consume 30 per cent less energy and water than a building without such a certification.

Khivraj Tech Park has shortlisted some building contractors and expects to finalise the contractor by mid-January, when it would have the groundbreaking ceremony for the project, Mr Chordia said.

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