The Hindu Business Line : Dhariwal Industries plans expansion

Pune, Aug. 24 The Chairman of Dhariwal Industries, Mr Rasiklal Dhariwal, has chalked out a roadmap for the current year with the company entering power and construction sectors.

The company has a presence in packaging, electricals, food and beverages, roller flour mills and metal powders.

Speaking to newspersons, Mr Dhariwal said that the company has already acquired over 500 acres in Chandrapur near Nagpur for entry into the power sector.

A 1,000 MW power plant would be constructed at this site in a phased manner; it would be split as two 500 MW projects.

An investment of Rs 2,500 crore would be made in the first phase and a similar amount would in the second.

“The first phase would be able to go on stream within 18 months once the raw material, coal blocks, are made available,” he said.

He added that the coal blocks are expected to be sourced from Chandrapur, which is a mining area.

He also stated that study is on for other locations for sourcing of raw material.

Mr Dhariwal said the power project would be carried out as a joint venture with the Calcutta-based Vision Industries, in which Dhariwal Industries would hold 55 per cent.

Vision Industries would bring in the manpower and technology.

Once the power project becomes successful, the company would make its entry into the cement and steel sectors.

The company has some 100 windmills for power generation.

These are located in Satara and Bogoth and generate around 25 MW.

Mr Dhariwal said that the company is also looking at construction as the second focus area.

These would be projects in the commercial and residential segments; the company would look at entering into a joint venture or venture on its own.

The commercial project would be mostly for the IT segment and would be spread over 10 lakh sq ft.

The residential project would cover 30 lakh sq ft.

Mr Dhariwal stressed that it would not look into an integrated township project.

He added that the commercial and residential projects would be kickstarted in Pune and Bangalore; the company is also scouting for locations in Hyderabad.

On other ventures, Mr Dhariwal said that keeping the festive season in mind, the company would place thrust on its mineral water, Oxyrich, and the pan masala, Calcutta Meeta Pan.

He also said it has also obtained patent for Oxyrich in South Africa and would soon begin exports; the company is looking at 3.5 million bottles a year.

As part of the expansion, it is also setting up factories in Mumbai, Ahmedabad and Lucknow.

These would be franchisee plants; the franchisee would provide the land and handle production.

Currently, it owns three factories in Pune, Hyderabad and Bangalore and has franchisee plants in Aurangabad, Kolhapur and Chennai.

Ms Jahnavi Dhariwal, who looks after the printing and packaging segments, said that the company is expanding to include packaging and magazine printing.

She said that talks are on with a few US clients; machinery that would be required for expansion would be brought in soon.

The company would be targeting the US and West Asian markets and would be looking at cartons in the packaging segment.

Later, it would look at pharma packaging.

She added that Rs 20 crore would be spent in expansion.