Balmer Lawrie & Co has lined up a capex plan of Rs 400 crore for the next three years. Besides, the Kolkata-headquartered mini ratna company will infuse another Rs 100 crore for further expansion and modernisation of its ongoing activities. All these will go to help the company double its turnover to Rs 3,000 crore over the next five years, Prabal Basu, chairman and managing director, Balmer Lawrie & Company said on Tuesday.
“We’ll have a capex of Rs 400 crore in the next three years on Vizag multi-modal logistics hub and temperature controlled warehouse. This apart, Rs 100 crore would be infused for other expansion and modernisation of ongoing activities,” Basu said after the annual general meeting.
He said, “In the first phase, warehouses will come up at Mumbai, Hyderabad and Delhi (NCR) and four others in the second phase.” The Vizag logistics hub would entail an investment of Rs 220 crore and the first and second phase of temperature controlled warehouses would attract investment of Rs 65 and Rs 100 crore respectively. Meanwhile the company has drawn up plans to double its turnover to Rs 3,000 crore over the next five years, he said. Responding to queries on the company’s logistics solution JV- Transafe, whose MD had been brought to book for alleged accounting fraud in 2010 and recently has been referred to BIFR, Basu said that they were keen on reviving it as the company still throws up opportunities.
"Currently, it is has been referred to BIFR and the revival plan is yet to get approval. It has huge loan book of Rs 120 crore and that needs to be restructured. Banks want one-time settlement. We are also looking for an investor or strategic partner to revive the company," said Basu. Balmer Lawrie holds 50 per cent in Transafe.
