Lanco Industries pipes to ride on PM Narendra Modi’s rural infra push
Chennai: Pipe maker Lanco Industries has drawn up Rs 325 crore capex plan to expand its production unit riding on the back of the Narendra Modi government’s rural and infrastructure projects.
The company plans to spend the money on setting up a small diameter ductile iron (DI) pipe plant of 1 lakh tonnes per annum (TPA) for sizes ranging from 100 mm to 300 m with increased capacity of blast furnaces and other facilities.
“Though there is enough production capacity of DI pipes in India, there is a mismatch in terms of demand for smaller size pipes. We decided to set up this new facility to correct this mismatch,” said Mr G.S. Rathi, director of the company.
This expansion programme will be completed in 18 months and would in place by March 2016, he said.
With this increased capacity, the company hopes to meet the requitemnt of smaller diameter DI pipes of all water boards, public health engineering departments, corporations and other infrastructure projects in the southern and western regions.
The firm also plans to increase the existing DI pipe production by 50,000 TPA through a Rs 100 crore capex plan and is expected to be operational by January 2015, Mr Rathi said.
Pursuant to its board approval, the company has decided to undergo a name change to Srikalahasti Pipes Ltd, subject to shareholders’ approval.
"We had been contemplating on a name change for a while and we decided to implement it in one of our happy quarters when we have turned black,” said Mr G. S. Rathi.
The company has earned a net profit of Rs 12.84 crore for the quarter ended June 30, 2014 against Rs 5.03 crore in the corresponding quarter ended last fiscal.
