Undeterred by the economic slowdown, Ramco Cements Ltd. will be investing more than ₹2,200 crore in the coming months in various upcoming projects in Andhra Pradesh and Odisha, said a top official.
“Economic slowdown is an ideal situation to invest,” said S. Vaithiyanathan, CFO, Ramco Cements. “We generally tend to invest during down cycle so that the plant would be ready for commissioning when the upswing starts,” he said. During the previous two slowdowns, particularly during 2000 and 2010, the firm had invested over ₹200 crore in expansion at Alathiyur for putting up mother plant and Ariyalur for second production line.
“Several people questioned us, why we were doing that. Our plan was to invest when the market was dull and be ready with an action plan, when the market gets going, so that we can reap full benefit. In the last two experiments, we tasted success and we are replicating it once again,” he said.
According to him, Ramco Cements had announced its intention to ramp up its production capacity to 20 million tonnes by 2020 from 12 million tonnes.
“In the last few months, several firms have deferred their expansion plans citing economic slowdown. But, we are expanding our grinding units in Odisha and Andhra Pradesh. This would take our total grinding capacity to 20 MT,” he said.
These new units are expected to be commissioned by December 2019 and January 2020 respectively. So far, Ramco Cements had invested ₹438 crore and ₹147 crore and the balance of ₹180 crore would be invested soon.
