Lafarge India, a subsidiary of world's largest cement manufacturer Lafarge Group, will invest about Rs 700 crore (Rs 7 billion) to expand capacity at its Chattisgarh unit.
The company is set to sign a memorandum of understanding with the state government to facilitate the expansion.
"The company is expanding its unit near Raipur and has been allotted limestone reserves. The MoU should be signed by the end of the month," said sources in the Chattisgarh government. Company officials refused to comment.
They added that the expansion is likely to double the Bilaspur unit's clinker capacity to about 3 million tonne per annum.
The facility also has a cement grinding unit with a capacity of 400,000 tonne per annum. Lafarge also has an integrated cement grinding unit with separate circuits for clinker and slag grinding with a three million tonne per annum capacity in the state. The company's third unit in India is located in Jharkhand's Singhbhum district.
Lafarge India has a total cement capacity of 5 million tons and a clinker capacity of 3 million tons.
Lafarge commenced operations in India by acquiring TISCO's cement plants in 1999, and later in January 2001 further acquired the cement business of Raymond.
