MUMBAI, June 26: The AV Birla group has quietly kicked off operations at its brand new copper smelter under the Birla Copper division of Indo-Gulf Fertilisers, which will add a whopping Rs 838 crore to its turnover by the year-end, and catapult the fertilisers and chemicals major into a Rs 1,400 crore-plus company.Confirming the move, an official spokesperson of the Kumarmangalam Birla-controlled major said the company projects production of 60,000 tonnes of copper at its 1,00,000 tonnes per annum copper smelter, which will be further expanded eventually to 1,50,000 tonnes per annum.
The smelter was started off some weeks ago with the full participation of a whole team of technologists from collaborator Outocompu of Finland. "There are around 15 top engineers from Outocompu sitting at the smelter, assisting us in running the smelter, and they seem pretty confident that we will do very well indeed," said the spokesperson.
The copper refinery at the project had already started operations aroundFebruary-end, said sources.
The cost of the Phase-II expansion will be around Rs 340 crore, which will be funded through internal accruals and debt. There will be no issue of equity shares for funding the phase II expansion.
The company had earlier stated that the 100,000 tonnes per annum copper smelter has a provision for increase in capacity to 1,50,000 tonnes, but had said a definite decision on the issue will be taken later.
Work on the second phase is expected to begin later this fiscal. The company expects demand in the copper industry to grow at over 7.5 per cent per ann-um. By 2001, the gap in domestic demand and production in the copper sector is projected to be around 60,000 tonnes per annum.
The company expects to add Rs 1,300 crore to its turnover by 1999-2000 at a capacity utilisation of 85 per cent. Indo Gulf Fertilisers & Chemicals Corporation Ltd, the Aditya Birla Group company, had posted a smart recovery from a dull 1996-97 in the year-ended March 31, 1998, with a 31 per centincrease in net profit and 35 per cent increase in turnover.
The company's net profit, on the back of a 40 per cent jump in urea production topping 9.3 lakh tonnes during the period, increased to Rs 141 crore from Rs 108 crore last year. Turnover rose to Rs 639 crore from Rs 473 crore.
Work on a captive jetty, with a capacity of handle ships up to 30,000 dead weight tonnage (DWT), is at an advanced stage and the jetty is expected to be operational in the last quarter of 1998.
Copyright © 1998 Indian Express Newspapers (Bombay) Ltd.
