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Nava Bharat Ventures Limited has turned 50 years and is gearing up to trend on the path of further organic and inorganic growth with an investment of $100 million.
Established in 1972 as an Indian Ferroalloys manufacturer, the company is now a multinational operating in India, South East Asia and Africa.
It currently produces over 2,00,000 tonnes of Ferroalloys each year; operate several power plants.
It is working with hundreds of sugarcane farmers to produce and process sugar as well as ethanol.
As part of its efforts to give something back to society, the company is also investing in corporate social responsibility in healthcare, education, livelihood and rural development initiatives. BusinessLine spoke to Ashwin Devineni, Chief Executive Officer, Nava Bharat Ventures, on its growth so far and future plans. Excerpts:
Your Company is now half-a-century old. How do you rate the progress achieved so far?
Our biggest achievement is that we survived. Many companies have shut down, but we have been growing steadily. Our strategy looks a lot more conservative, but we are always on a growth path. Nava Bharat is now a multinational company operating in India, South East Asia and Africa. We have grown organically, and now ours is a diversified group, with businesses in metals manufacturing, power, mining, agribusiness and healthcare.
Nava Bharat now operates in multiple verticals. How do you describe your primary business focus going forward?
We are primarily a Ferro Alloys Company supported by Power. Ferro Alloys is doing well, and the steel outlook looks good definitely. We are looking at increasing our Ferro Alloys production capacity. We will only expand when we have raw material security. We are looking for mines in Zambia and we will announce once we finalise a deal. We will be expanding our production capacity. Similarly, in the energy vertical, we may gradually shift business direction from coal-fired power generation to more sustainable processes.
What kind of capex do you plan in the expansion?
There is a good opportunity to grow further. We plan to invest $100 million in phases over the next three years. Apart from Ferro Alloys, we have been making a few calculated investments in the agriculture and healthcare sectors. We can mobilise required funds for investment through internal accruals and debt.
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