Sugar boss

Tax examinations and political pay offs in the industry hog the limelight, but Shishir Bajaj prefers to stay media shy and likes to keep a l...

Written by Dilip Cherian

February 20, 2006 12:00 AM IST

3 min read

Tax examinations and political pay offs in the industry hog the limelight, but Shishir Bajaj prefers to stay media shy and likes to keep a low profile. When it comes to expansion, though, he is not one to allow his competitors any leeway. Last year, after beating them all to emerge as the top sugar producer in the country, he now has turned his attention to distilleries and decided to more than double his capacity. The tycoon is not taking it easy on the sugar front either and will be looking to increase his capacity to 1 lakh from the present 95,000 TCD. A greenfield facility is also now on the cards with a daily cane crushing capacity that can be increased to 7,000 tonnes per day. The sugar baron is contemplating setting up additional power co-generation plants at various locations to increase capacity to 270 mw. Shishir will also be setting up a separate power plant at an estimated cost of Rs 200 crore. The 90 mw surplus energy generated would be sold to third parties. The sugar baron surely knows what synergistic diversification is all about.

Widening the brush

K.S. Dhingra of Berger Paints is on an expansion spree. After starting a powder-coating plant in Jammu last month, the tycoon is now looking to set up an automotive paint facility at Rewari in Haryana by January 2007. The unit that will cater to industry located in the North would soon be doubling volumes at Rewari if the auto industry responds favourably to his moves. Over and above his expansion plans on the domestic turf, Dhingra will also be setting up a facility in Russia, which will be his second overseas manufacturing plant after the one in Nepal. The facility in Kraskadar, South Russia, for the decorative paints segment is likely to be operational by July. Dhingra has been exporting his products to the vast Russian market for the last 10 years now. He claims that Berger enjoys brand recall in the market and with a manufacturing facility there, conquering Russia should not be a difficult task for the paints tycoon. Stepping on the gas on both domestic and overseas fronts, the tycoon is quite bullish about achieving his turnover target of Rs 1,100-crore rather soon. That8217;s painting a rosy future.

Infra dig

Kolkata based S.P. Mittal is eager to shake off his rather drab 8216;mere plywood producer8217; tag and reposition the Rs 270 crore Greenply Industries as an 8220;interior infrastructure company.8221; He is planning to put in place a new facility in Uttaranchal to give shape to his product line extension plans. While the plywood division will be functional by July the particle-board unit will be by October. A mix of debt and internal accruals is going to fund his new facility, and with this diverse portfolio the tycoon surely will be able to complete his image makeover. Over and above the greenfield Uttaranchal plant Mittal is also busy making significant capacity additions in other plants in Kolkata and Nagaland. All these expansion plans, Greenfield or otherwise, are likely to double his existing production capacity. Quite a target, and may be it will then Mittal look a bit more like a truly infrastructural corporate.

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