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    UltraTech plans total capex of Rs 1,500 cr for FY21

    Synopsis

    The investment will also be utilised for all the pending work for phase 2 of the Bara grinding unit in Uttar Pradesh, for coal block development in Madhya Pradesh and for new ready mix concrete plants and other plant upkeep capex, said the group’s chairman Kumar Mangalam Birla.

    UltratechAgencies
    For the first quarter of FY21, the company attained net sales of Rs. 7,563 crore as compared to Rs. 11,229 crore in the corresponding period of the previous year.
    Mumbai: UltraTech Ltd, the cement making arm of Aditya Birla Group has planned a total capex of Rs.1,500 crore during FY21 for installation of 66 megawatt of waste heat recovery systems (WHRS) and an 1.2 million tons per annum brownfield cement capacity addition in West Bengal and Bihar.

    The investment will also be utilised for all the pending work for phase 2 of the Bara grinding unit in Uttar Pradesh, for coal block development in Madhya Pradesh and for new ready mix concrete plants and other plant upkeep capex, said the group’s chairman Kumar Mangalam Birla during the company’s first virtual annual general meeting held on Wednesday.

    “With these expansion plans, your Company’s (Ultratech) consolidated cement capacity will stand augmented to 118 million tons per annum and Green Power capacity will increase to 185 MW for WHRS and over 350 MW for solar and wind power,” said Birla.

    Waste heat recovery system is a green technology which captures and transfers the waste heat from a process with a gas or liquid back to the system as an additional energy source .

    Over the last 3 years, the use of alternative fuel and raw materials has increased almost twofold, the chairman said, “The WHRS capacity has doubled to 118 MW in FY20. Also, the solar and wind capacity has crossed 95 MW compared to none three years ago. Your Company is 2.8x water positive and 2.11x plastic negative,” he added.

    Despite a huge demand degrowth due to economic slowdown during the first half of FY20 the company managed to stabilize by December 2019, only to witness another downturn caused by the unpredicted viral pandemic, said Birla.

    “Our focus on conserving cash continued unabated. The overheads control programme initiated by the management cut fixed costs by 21% year on year. Prudent working capital management and control on cash flows resulted in a reduction of net debt by Rs. 2,209 crore during Q1FY21,” He said.

    Highlighting the key developments during FY20, Birla said that acquisition of the cement business of Century Textiles and Industries with a capacity of 14.6 MTPA, strengthened the company’s position in markets in Maharashtra, Central and Eastern India.

    “Your Company (UltraTech) is the undisputed market leader not only pan-India, but also in each Zone of India - North, South, East, West and Central,” he said.

    Ultratech recorded net revenues of US$ 5.94 billion (Rs. 42,125 crore) and EBITDA of US$ 1.40 billion (Rs. 9,930 crore) during 2019-2020. The company’s directors have recommended a dividend of Rs.13 per equity share of face value of Rs.10 This entails a cash outgo of Rs.375 crore.

    For the first quarter of FY21, the company attained net sales of Rs. 7,563 crore as compared to Rs. 11,229 crore in the corresponding period of the previous year.

    “While FY21 will be a challenging year, I remain confident that the economy will revert to the 6 to 8% growth trajectory in the next fiscal. As India and the world came together to fight the impact of the crisis caused by COVID-19, UltraTech made all efforts to tide over the turbulence,” Birla said.


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