The Hindu : Ramco's calcium silicate board unit

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Thursday, Feb 13, 2003

Business

Business

Ramco's calcium silicate board unit

By Our Special Correspondent

CHENNAI FEB. 12. Ramco Industries is putting up an independent unit at its existing Arakkonam facility in technical collaboration with A&A Material Corporation of Japan to manufacture calcium silicate board. The unit will have an installed capacity of 40,000 tonnes annually. This is claimed to be the first of its kind project in the country.

Calcium silicate board can prove a cost-effective substitute for plywood and can find a lot of utility in residential/office internal applications. It can be used as a substitute material for putting up false ceilings, partitioning walls, panelling and the like.

S. A. Bhima Raja, President of the company, said the exercise on the calcium silicate board front would involve an investment of around Rs. 10 crores. He expressed optimism that the proposed unit would go commercial by March this year. The Japanese company would supply critical machinery for the project. The move for the production of calcium silicate board is part of the nearly Rs. 40-crore investment plan of Ramco over the next year or so. The company was also raising its asbestos capacity at Arakkonam to 1.20 lakh tonnes from one lakh tonnes. The expansion should also fructify by March this year, he added.

Ramco Industries was proposing to set up shop in West Bengal and Andhra Pradesh. It was toying with the idea of putting up a 72,000-tonne facility each in these two States. It was also proposing to put up a windmill at Tirunelveli to produce 2.5 MW of power.

Ramco Industries recorded sales of Rs. 112.66 crores in the nine months ended December 31, 2002 against Rs. 105.70 crores in the same period in the previous year. The net profit was Rs. 15.03 crores against Rs. 13.16 crores in the period under review.

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