Raghav Productivity Enhancers expects to commission a greenfield silica ramming mass plant in Odisha in about a year, a move the Jaipur-based manufacturer says will reduce freight costs to eastern India and help double its organised-sector market share to around 30 per cent.
The plant is being established through a joint venture with Japan’s TRL Kosaki, a step-down subsidiary of Nippon Steel Corporation. The partnership gives Raghav Productivity exclusive access to TRL Kosaki’s quartzite mines in Odisha, according to company chairman Sanjay Kabra.
Kabra told The Hindu BusinessLine that the facility will have a capacity of 350,000 metric tonnes per annum and involve an investment of around ₹100 crore. The company expects the plant to be commissioned in approximately one year and to reach full capacity within two-and-a-half years of commissioning.
“India’s silica ramming mass market remains very unorganised,” Kabra said. “There are several local players who are supplying this product to several steel plants in the region. We are having a 15 per cent market share right now in the organised sector. And, once this plant is set up, we expect that market share to go from to 30 per cent.”
Silica ramming mass is used in induction furnace-based steel plants. Raghav Productivity currently supplies customers in eastern states from its two plants in Jaipur, which have a combined capacity of around 534,000 MTPA.
The company said freight is a significant component of the cost of serving eastern India from Rajasthan. “Almost 50 per cent of our cost is freight cost when we are supplying from Jaipur to the Eastern part of India,” Kabra said. “But when we have the plant in Odisha, then the freight cost will come down.”
The company estimates that around 45 per cent of India’s furnaces are located in the eastern part of the country. Locating production closer to that demand base is expected to improve its ability to supply steel plants in the region, while also creating an export base for Bangladesh, Bhutan and countries in the Far East.
The Odisha facility is part of a broader multi-location manufacturing strategy under which Raghav Productivity is seeking to move production closer to major demand clusters. The company is targeting total production capacity of more than 1 million tonnes.
“We are confident that our multi-location strategy of getting our capacity to over 1 million tonne will be a reality soon,” Kabra said.
Raghav Productivity currently has a presence across 26 states in India and exports to more than 40 countries. In addition to expanding its ramming mass manufacturing network, the company is in advanced research and development stages for high-purity quartz crucibles intended for semiconductor manufacturing supply chains.
The Odisha project’s next stated milestone is commissioning, expected in about one year, followed by a planned ramp-up to full capacity over the subsequent two-and-a-half years.
