Aditya Birla Group to invest $1.4 billion in cement

Aditya Birla Group, the country's biggest cement producer, aims to spend about Rs 70 billion (USD1.4 billion) over 3-4 years to expand its cement operations, the Economic Times reported on Thursday.

The group, which is in the process of combining its cement business under UltraTech Cement by transfering some units from Grasim Industries, plans to take on Swiss firm Holcim that is expanding in India.

Holcim, the world's second largest cement maker, has management control in two Indian firms ACC and Ambuja Cements.

The newspaper said the Aditya Birla Group would build three new plants that would take its total capacity to 62 million tonnes a year from 49 million now.

"No final decision has been taken yet. We hope to finalise our expansion plans in a month or two," Adesh Gupta, chief financial offer at Grasim, told the paper, adding the group wanted to maintain its domestic market leadership.