The company's chairman and managing director Ravi Kumar Kajaria told The Financial Express

that the foundry park will help it to increase pig iron off-take. The company also plans to set up its own foundry at the park.

The park, which has been cleared by the Asansol Durgapur Development Authority, will be able to house 20 to 25 units of capacities ranging from 500 to 2,000 tonnes per month.

Kajaria said the first unit is expected to begin commercial production by the end of the year.

"A 500 tonne per month semi-automatic foundry will cost Rs 5 crore, while a 2,000 tonne per month foundry will cost Rs 20 crore," Kajaria said.

He said a semi-automatic foundry can turn out a diverse range of products from automobile castings to ordinary ones. Kajaria said the Durgapur industrial belt has surplus power, a good raw material base and demand for foundry goods. So, it is an ideal location for a foundry park.

At present, the new plant supplies pig iron to various foundries in the Howrah-Liluah belt near Calcutta. However, the Howrah units are facing closure notices because of the pollution they generate while reheating the pig iron during casting. Kajaria said he wants to ensure that his plant's off-take does not suffer due to closure of units in Howrah.

At Durgapur, the company will use specially-built hot-metal carriers or rail cars to supply the foundry units next to its plant. This process will be pollution free and economical, said Kajaria. The hot metal carrier has been designed by its collaborator, Tata Korf, and has been manufactured by Ashok Leyland.

Kajaria Iron reported a profit after tax of Rs 1.99 crore on a turnover of Rs 40.90 crore for the year to March 31, 1998. Out of its total turnover, Rs 32 crore came from exports, while Rs 18 crore came from the sale of pig iron to the foundries at Howrah. The company then bought back the castings and exported them to Europe and the USA.

Before setting up its own pig iron plant, the company used to buy the raw material from Tata Metalik Ltd and supply it to foundries in Howrah and the family-owned Calcutta Iron & Engineering Co Ltd for production of castings.

The Kajarias used to buy 24,000 tonnes of pig iron from Tata Metalik. Last week, Tata Metalik told the annual general meeting of shareholders that it plans its own foundry at Kharagpur.

For the current year, Kajaria Iron aims to export finished foundry products worth Rs 50 crore.

In the first quarter ending on June 30, 1998, the company reported a profit after tax of Rs 1.01 crore on a turnover of Rs 12.79 crore. In the quarter, the company's production suffered following the imposition of anti-dumping duty on imports of Chinese coke, used to fuel its pig iron plant.

Now the company has decided to buy coke from Australia, Japan and some from local sources. The company's annual coke requirement is 84,000 tonnes.