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Cement plant in Belgaum to create over 1,000 jobs

Dalmia's first cement plant in state expected to take-off in March.

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Cement-maker Dalmia has some  robust plans for the state.  The North-based cement firm’s Belgaum manufacturing plant—their first in Karnataka—is expected to take-off in March next year.

Predicted to generate over 1,000 jobs, the Belgaum plant will have a production capacity of 25 lakh tonnes per year. The group has invested `1,300 crore on this plant.

Vipin Agarwal, CEO, Dalmia Cement, says Karnataka is a key state for the company and the group aims to break into the top three cement makers in the state. Currently, the top three cement firms in the state are Ultratech, Zuari and ACC.

“Though we have had a good presence in Tamil Nadu and Kerala, Karnataka has not been a great market for us so  far. We have to address this state seriously by ramping up our presence here,” says Agarwal.

The company’s market share through sales is about 5% from Karnataka, compared to about 14% each from Tamil Nadu and Kerala.

“We hope to increase our share to double-digit from Karnataka in few months time,”  says Agarwal.

Dalmia has three other plants in the South, including two in Tamil Nadu (Dalmiapuram and Ariyalur), and one in Andhra Pradesh in Kadapa. The group feels that the economic climate in the state is favourable for growth.

“Karnataka has been attracting a lot of foreign direct investment. After National Capital Region and Maharashtra, it is Karnataka that has been drawing in a lot of FDI,” adds Agarwal.

Between 2000 and 2012, Karnataka received FDI to the tune of $10.14 billion, ahead of Gujarat and Tamil Nadu, which have seen much higher industrial investment projects during that period. Moreover, according to the Economic Survey of Karnataka for 2012-13, the total FDI inflows to the state in the last decade accounted for 6% of the total FDI inflows to India.

Chief minister Siddaramaiah had also  earlier spoken about setting up ‘help desks’ in Japan, USA, Taiwan and Germany to attract FDI.

“The services sector and agriculture is doing really well in the state. That has a direct bearing on the cement industry,” says Agarwal.

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