The Hindu Business Line : Ashapura to double bentonite capacity in Mangalore plant

Mangalore, Jan. 24 Ashapura Minechem Ltd – the flagship company of Gujarat-based Ashapura group of companies – which opened a 50,000-tonnes-per-annum capacity bentonite processing plant in Mangalore on Thursday, is planning to increase the capacity to 1 lakh tonnes per annum in the next one and half years.

Mr Chetan Shah, Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer of Ashapura Group of companies, told Business Line here on Thursday that there is good demand for bentonite in south India. Bentonite is used in foundries, iron ore pellet plants, constructions industries, and in oil and water well drilling.

Ashapura, which has been using Mangalore as the distribution hub for the processed bentonite for the past 15 years, has now set up a processing plant here to cater to the needs of various foundries in southern India.

Growing demand

The requirement of bentonite for companies such as Kudremukh and Jindal Vijayanagar Steel in Karnataka is around 30,000 tonnes each per year for their units, and many foundries in the South need more than 40,000 tonnes per year. The demand for the product is growing, Mr Shah said.

“To meet the growing needs for bentonite, the company is planning to increase the capacity to 1 lakh tonnes per annum in one and half years,” he said.

The company also has plans to make specialty additives here. Provisions have been made for that in the Mangalore plant.

Asked about investment in the Mangalore plant, Mr Shah said the company has invested around Rs 10 crore in the project.

It is planning to invest around Rs 25 crore in its Mangalore plant in the next three years. This includes investments in the specialty additives products also, he said.

The company operates from Gujarat, Maharashtra, Karnataka, Kerala, Andhra Pradesh, and Orissa, he added.

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