Reliance acquires control of West Bengal grinding unit

Reliance Cement has taken indirect control of a small grinding unit in West Bengal for an undisclosed price.

The 0.5Mta facility is located at Durgapur, 180km from Kolkata.

Reliance Cement, part of Anil Ambani’s Reliance’s Group, proposes to raise capacity of the Ma Chandi Durga Cement unit to 1Mta. For now, it is to be used as a contract manufacturing facility run by its founders, the Kedia family.

Reliance has an irrevocable right to gain control of Ma Chandi Durga Cement whenever it wishis to exercises it, Atul Desai, a director and chief marketing officer of Reliance Cement told Live Mint. The company is using the acquisition to make its entry into West Bengal, , a market with 14Mta of cement demand and the potential to grow by eight per cent per annum in the coming years.

Reliance Cement also plans to set up a 2.1Mta cement grinding plant in Raghunathpur, West Bengal. It has also lined up cement plants in various locations to increase capacity and is in various stages of acquiring limestone mining leases.