OCL India Ltd has commissioned its cement manufacturing unit (Bengal Cement Works) at Godapiasal Industrial Park in West Midnapore, West Bengal. Spread over 154.43 acres, the plant has been set-up at an investment of Rs615 crore.
OCL India already has two cement plants at Cuttack and Rajgangpur in Orissa with a combined production capacity of 5.35 MTPA. The Bengal unit will help in adding significant revenue to the State treasury in terms of taxes. It will provide domicile employment and income generation for local skilled and semi skilled pool in the district. As part of Corporate Social Responsibility programme of the group, peripheral community development works in terms of roads, bridges, health, and education facilities will be undertaken.
OCL India is one of the leading cement players in east India cement market. Eastern India contributes to around 18% of India's cement demand and 14% of the total installed capacity. Cement demand growth in East has been robust at CAGR of 9.75% over FY 09 - FY 14 compared to all India growth of 6.5%. Going forward, demand growth in east India is estimated to be around 8% in FY15. This is congenial with infrastructure growth and urban housing demand.
The plant is implementing state-of-the-art technology, efficient quality control systems consisting of ARL QUANT'X Energy Dispersive X-ray Fluorescence (EDXRF) spectrometer, Systronics Double beam UV Visible Spectrophotometer with graphic LCD, AIMIL Mu Compression Testing Machine with automatic pace rate controller to name a few. The components like fly-ash, clinker, gypsum, and slag are inter-grind to manufacture Portland Slag Cement (PSC) & Portland Pozzolana Cement (PPC).
Commenting on the occasion, Puneet Dalmia, Director, OCL India Ltd said, "Bengal's economy has impressively withstood the continuing slowdown in economic growth in previous years and currently is on a high growth trajectory. We want to grow in Bengal to create a market enduring goodwill by benefitting both our buyers and investors. The current boost in industrialisation in the state has prompted us to replicate our success of Rajgangpur and Cuttack, in Salboni. We plan to scale up our presence in the Bengal market by completing the first phase of investment in the plant. Our high-capacity plant located strategically will ensure timely and faster delivery of cement across the state, a significant emerging market for infrastructure development and thereby the cement industry." END