Imerys Ceramics India, part of the NYSE-listed Imerys Group, on Saturday said it will expand its facility at Nadiad, Gujarat, this year and also acquire new mines.
The Hyderabad-based company, provider of raw material and industrial minerals to ceramics and other industries, will invest this year Rs 2 crore (excluding cost of land and building) on expanding the capacity
at the Nadiad-based blended clay platform, from the existing 45,000 tonnes to one lakh tonnes per annum. The Hyderabad facility was recently expanded to increase its capacity from 1.5 lakh tonnes to
2 lakh tonnes, he said.
The company, a major exporter of potash feldspar and quartz, has so far invested Rs 80 crore in India, including Rs 78 crore at Hyderabad, in expanding capacities and R&D.
With the capacity expansion, Imerys India is also looking to acquire new mines for potash feldspar, soda feldspar and quartz in Gujarat and Rajasthan. Currently it owns and operates seven mines in Andhra
Pradesh, which it inherited with the acquisition of Jumbo Mining Ltd in 2007.
“We are in the process of identifying the new mines,” Dr Chandresh Agarwal, Managing Director, told Business Line here.
Imerys India currently imports clay worth Rs 100 crore per annum from the UK, France, Belgium and New Zealand for blending and supplying raw materials to Indian ceramics, sanitaryware, glass and allied
industries. With India’s 1,000 ceramic plants, out of 1,200, being in Gujarat, and 600 of these being tile-makers, mainly in Morbi, the State is emerging as a major exporter in these segments. With the Chinese challenge no more, Gujarat is set to provide cheaper export quality tiles and other articles in this sector with the availability of global technology and raw material, he said.
The company, which entered India in 2004 and now has nine wholly-owned plants in four business verticals in various locations, had a turnover of Rs 800 crore last year, of which 90% revenues came from exports.
Its ceramics vertical is expecting to increase turnover from Rs 100 crore in 2012 to Rs 130 crore this year, Dr Agarwal said.
