In order to become one of the top five cement manufacturers of cement in India, Chettinad Cement Corporation Ltd has embarked upon expansion-cum-greenfield projects which will take its annual capacity to 25 million tonne by 2020 from 8.5 million tonne at present.
After lying low over the years, the company, an active player in Tamil Nadu and Kerala and having minor presence in Karnataka, has decided to grow aggressively. Chettinad Cement is keen to become a pan-India player by entering Karnataka in a full-fledged manner and then tap markets in Rajasthan, Himachal Pradesh and Chhattisgarh. To cater to demand from western Maharashtra, part of Andhra Pradesh and the entire Karnataka, Chettinad has decided to put up greenfield projects in Karnataka with an estimated capacity of around 10 million tonne per annum in three phases. It will come up with facilities to have an identical capacity in Tamil Nadu as well in the next five years, said C Sudhakar, president, and MC Kini, president of business development.
Addressing visiting journalists at its plant in Puliyur, Tamil Nadu, on Wednesday, Sudhakar said: “Our ambition is to become one of the top five manufacturers in India over the next few years with an estimated capacity of 25 million tonne by 2020. To start with, we will be going ahead with our plans for Karnataka, where we produce 7.5 million tonne, over the next three to five years.
