India: Reliance Cement Company, part of the Anil Ambani-controlled Reliance Infrastructure, is looking at a turnover of around US$341m in the current fiscal year on the back of capacity expansion and entry into West Bengal. The company has made a foray into West Bengal, a market with 14Mt/yr of cement demand and the potential to grow by 8%/yr in the coming years.

"We are targeting cement sales of 3.5Mt and a revenue of US$307 - 341m in fiscal 2015," said Reliance Cement Director & CMO Atul Desai. "We hope to cover the entire West Bengal market in fiscal 2015, which is expanding by 8%/yr. We expect to sell 0.6 - 0.7Mt of cement in the state in fiscal 2015."

"West Bengal is one of the largest cement-consuming states in eastern India with a total consumption of around 14Mt/yr," said Reliance Cement Head (East) Deepak Ranjan. He added that Reliance Cement hopes to garner a healthy market share in the region.

Reliance Cement also plans to set up a 2.1Mt/yr cement grinding plant in Raghunathpur, West Bengal. Desai said that the company has 0.40km2 of land and is in the process of getting regulatory clearances for the project.

Reliance Cement has also lined up cement plants in various locations to increase capacity and is in various stages of acquiring limestone mining leases. "The group aims to expand its cement production capacity to 50Mt/yr over the next couple of years," he said.