Indian cement major UltraTech plans to establish an integrated cement plant in Madhya Pradesh with a capacity of 3.5Mta.

"The board has approved a greenfield integrated cement plant at Dhar in Madhya Pradesh with a capacity of 3.5Mta. The plant will involve an investment of INR2600 crore [US$403m] and is likely to being commercial production by the fourth quarter of FY19," UltraTech chairman, Kumar Mangalam Birla, said during the company's 17th annual general meeting.

The new plant will further enhance UltraTech's presence in central India, he noted, adding the company has also commissioned cement grinding units in Nagpur in Maharashtra and at Pataliputra in Bihar recent times.

The company has an additional capex of INR22bn the current fiscal, which will mainly be utilised for capacity de-bottlenecking projects, regulatory requirements, plant infrastructure and routine maintenance.