The Rs 130 crore company engaged in the manufacture of ready-mix concrete and dry plasters, is putting up its manufacturing facility at a cost of Rs 7 crore for dry plasters, to be followed by three more plants in the southern, northern and eastern parts of the country.

The Pune plant would have an installed capacity of 30,000 tonnes per annum and Conmix has set a turnover target of about Rs 15 crore during the first three years of operations in the country, Conmix managing director K Koerle told reporters here.

Conmix obtained the clearance from the Foreign Investment Promotion Board (FIPB) for this a 100 per cent subsidiary involving an investment of Rs 20 crore in February, he said.

Conmix would also use the manufacturing facility in India to cater to the demand fromcountries like Bangladesh, Hong Kong, Singapore and Brunei, company's general manager Lothar Hellenkamp said.

"There are very good markets in countries like Bangladesh, Hong Kong, Singapore and Brunei which we hope to tap once the Indian market is taken care of," he said.

He said the cost of supplying materials from its existing facility in Dubai was very high due to abnormal freight cost and it could be substantially reduced by using India as the supply base.

Hellenkamp said the Pune plant to be completed by the end of next year would produce dry plasters, gypsum plasters, decorative plasters and adhesives."Until we start manufacturing locally, Conmix will importdry plaster products directly from United Arab Emirates and will familiarise the Indian consumers and create a market for its products here," he said.

Conmix, which has been in India for the last three years, has already appointed seven distributors and will increase the same to around 30 within a year, Hellenkamp said.

He said the Indianconstruction material market was worth Rs 360 crore and was already showing signs of further growth.

Koerle claimed that gypsum plasters were more cost effective than cement and other alternative materials that were available in the country from the unorganised sector.

He said Conmix would target mainly the top-end builders of home and commercial complexes and added that the company had already bagged some contracts from states places like Haryana, Chennai, New Delhi and Bhubaneswar.Conmix is a joint venture company between Germany Basedbarl Epple and UAE-based Bukhtiar Investments and German Gulf Enterprises.Koerle claimed that Conmix was the largest manufacturer and supplier of construction material occupying 100 per cent market for pre-mixed in UAE and 80 per cent in the Middle East.