UltraTech Cement, an Aditya Birla Group company, plans to set up a 3.5-million-tonne-per-annum integrated cement plant in Rajasthan with an investment ₹1,850 crore.

The plant is expected to commence commercial production by June 2020. The group’s bet on a new cement plant comes even when the current demand remains lacklustre and with production cost going up substantially with the Supreme Court banning use of pet coke and furnace oil in Rajasthan, Delhi, Uttar Pradesh and Haryana.

The board of directors has approved the setting up the plant at Pali in Rajasthan, the company said a statement on Saturday.

The plant is being set up in one of the fastest- growing markets in the country and the highest cement-consuming State in the North zone, it added.

UltraTech Cement is one of the few companies in the sector which has a strong balance sheet even after taking over 17 million tonnes of JP Group’s stressed assets for ₹16,100 crore.

The plant will cater to the Western Rajasthan market, where the firm does not have a significant presence.

With this expansion, the company will have a foot print across the country with 50 plant locations, along with 103 ready-mix concrete plants.

FII investment limit hiked

The Board also approved a proposal to increase investment limits by Registered Foreign Portfolio Investors, including Foreign Institutional Investors, from the existing 30 per cent of the paid-up equity share capital, to 40 per cent, it said.

This is subject to the approval of the shareholders and other statutory approvals. The increase will make available more space for the RFPIs to invest in the equity share capital of the company, the firm said.

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