Century Plyboards (India) Ltd is looking to invest close to ₹2,000 crore to expand laminates, MDF (medium density fibre) and particle board capacities in the next three years. The company is hopeful of achieving a turnover of ₹5,000 crore by FY26, up from ₹3,000 crore in FY22, backed by expansion of capacity and addition of newer product categories.
According to Keshav Bhajanka, Executive Director, Century Plyboards, a majority of the expansion would be through greenfield projects.
As part of the capital allocation plan, the company is commissioning additional MDF plants at an investment of more than ₹600 crore by the second quarter of 2023-24. Another greenfield particle board project is expected to come up in Tamil Nadu at an estimated investment of ₹500 crore. This is likely to materialise by March 2025.
The company is also in talks to introduce the plywood plant alongside the MDF plant at Hoshiarpur in second half of FY-24. This might entail an investment of Rs 100 crore.
Also read: Century Plyboards to triple MDF capacity by FY24
In addition to that, the upcoming HPL (High Pressure Laminates) Line project in Andhra Pradesh which was due is also in the pipeline and is expected to come on stream by end of FY 2023-2024. The company plans on investing Rs 200 crores on the project.
“We had invested capex of close to Rs 1000 crore in the first 35 years (of our operations) and now we are investing around Rs 2000 crore over a three year period. We are changing scales and a bulk of our investments are in the MDF and particle board business as it is a growing area,” Bhajanka told newspersons at the launch of new laminate brand – Sainik Laminates – here on Thursday.
The new laminate brand would help the company address nearly 80 per cent of the approximately Rs 8000 crore laminate market in India, he said.
“We were previously only able to cater only to the premium segment with our existing Century brand laminates, but with the new brand, which is 20 per cent more economical, we will be able to address a larger portion of the market,” he said.
Backed by the new brand, the company expects revenue from laminates to double to Rs 1000 crore in the next four years.