Crucial time ahead for CUMI

Chennai: August and September 2007 will be landmark months for the Rs526.77 crore turnover abrasives major Carborundum Universal Limited (CUMI), part of the $2 billion Murugappa Group, as most of its capital expenditure investments within and outside India will begin to yield results.

The company's Rs25 crore bonded abrasives plant set up in Uttarkhand will start production sometime in August-September this year. The plant has a total capacity of 3,000 tonne per annum (tpa).

Similarly, September will see the doubling of industrial ceramics capacity at its Hosur plant to 6,000 tpa going on stream and also the production of limited range of power tools at Bangalore.

In China CUMI's joint venture company Jingri CUMI Super Hard Materials Company Limited is expected to start commercial production next month at its newly set up bonded abrasives plant. It was only in February/March this year that the Chinese company started plant construction.

More than these, the company is keenly awaiting the Russian government's nod for acquiring Volzhsky Abrasives Works for which it had signed a binding MoU with a consortium of investors to acquire an 84.14 per cent stake in the Russian company.

According to MM Murugappan, chairman, all the activities relating to the acquisition like the due diligence has been completed. The company is waiting for the green signal for the deal from Russian Federal Anti Monopoly Service. According to CUMI, the Russian agency's decision will be known soon.