Tata Chemicals has drawn up a capital expenditure plan of Rs 800 crore over the next three years. Speaking at the 72nd annual general meeting of the company, Mr Ratan Tata, Chairman, Tata Chemicals, said going forward the company has to take on key challenges, such as the upward spiral in commodity prices and delay in allocation of gas for expansion in fertiliser capacity. Besides, he said, the company has to adapt to frequent monetary policy changes being made by the central bank.

“On the global front, the company has to take measures to turn around Kenya and UK operations. The burden of both these businesses is reflected in the consolidated performance,” said Mr Tata.

Answering a shareholder's query, Mr Tata said, Tata Chemicals had a capex plan of Rs 800 crore over next three years, without elaborating on the investment roadmap. He also said there are no overseas acquisition plans under consideration currently.

The company had made a series of global acquisitions in the last few months to strengthen its raw material resources.

The company's operations in UK were impacted by severe winter and key equipments were damaged. “The work to revive UK business is going on at full steam . We expect to complete it by August,” said Mr Mukudan, Managing Director, Tata Chemicals.

Soda ash production at Tata Chemicals Europe (formerly British Salt) was down five per cent compared to the previous year. The two main issues that affected the production were carbon supply problems for the kiln and the result of extreme winter weather suffered in December and January which affected the third and fourth quarters of last year.

The company's Kenyan operations were hit by loss of a major customer in the December quarter of the last year and intense competition from South African market from American soda ash producers. High production cost amid intense competition pulled down EBITDA by 28 per cent to Rs 41 crore from Rs 57 crore in the previous year.

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