Birla Corp to expand Durgapur cement plant

Kolkata: M P Birla Group flagship Birla Corporation is planning to expand existing capacity of its grinding cement plant in Durgapur with an investment of Rs 72.5 crore.
“Demand of premium slag-based cement in eastern region is expected to be robust. In view of the same, it is proposed to carry out the expansion of the existing capacity of grinding cement plant at Durgapur by installing one cement mill (VRM) having capacity of 0.24 MTPA.Post-expansion, the capacity of grinding cement plant at Durgapur will increase to 1.5 MTPA after the above expansion,” it added.
The cement major has reported a 53% year-on-year (Y-o-Y) fall in its consolidated net profit to Rs 65.7 crore in the first quarter ended June 30, from Rs 140.6 crore in the year-ago period. Its revenue from operations during the June quarter this fiscal also fell over 35% y-o-y at Rs 1,221.9 crore compared with Rs 1,883.8 crore in the year-ago period, according to the BSE filing.
According to the company, sudden lockdown in the third week of March had also led to pile up of inventory at the depots which was liquidated during the quarter.
“Birla Corporation managed to protect realization despite subdued demand and across the board inventory pile up. Realization for the June quarter at Rs 4,906 per tonne was 0.5% lower than the last year, mainly because of the soft prices prevailing in the east. The 5% drop in EBITDA per tonne at Rs 981 for the June quarter was on account of low fixed-cost absorption, low capacity utilisation and the adverse situation prevailing in some of the key markets of the company,” the company said in a release.