Big plans by Surana Industries

Venkatachari Jagannath
26 September 2006

Chennai: The Chennai-based Rs625.55 crore steel manufacturer Surana Industries Limited, is setting up an integrated steel complex at Raichur, Karnataka.

Planned at a capex of Rs473 crore, the proposed plant will mainly cater to the needs of the domestic automotive industry. The company wants to cash in on the emergence of India as a manufacturing hub for auto component and other industries.

Expected to start functioning next December, the proposed plant will have capacity of 1.28 lakh tonne of sponge iron, 1.36 lakh tonne of steel melting shop and 1.32 tonne of rolling mill. The project also includes a 30 MW captive power plant to be powered by heat recovered from the furnace also by coal. The Karnataka government has allotted 164 acres for the project out of the promised 300 acre.

The company hopes to generate a revenue of Rs500 crore from the new plant in its full year of operations which would take the turnover to Rs1,200 crore by March 2008.

Surana Industries currently operates two plants — one at Gummidipoondi near Chennai, which produces 1.09 lakh tonnes of thermo mechanically treated (TMT) bars and 30,000 tonnes of mild steel ingots. The other plant at Madhavaram in Chennai rolls out cold rolled steel products. The company has a 12 MW windmill at Thirunelvelli.

Last fiscal the company, which has a Rs15.50-crore equity base, posted a net profit of Rs23.44 crore. The company's reserves stand at Rs76.27 crore.