Our Business
| We are part of one of the oldest conglomerates in India and were incorporated in October 1919. Since 1924, we have been under the leadership of late G.D. Birla, late B.M. Birla, and our current Promoter, Mr. B.K. Birla. We have diversified business interests in various sectors including tyres, cement and rayon. We are among the top five largest tyre manufacturing companies in India by production volume for the year ended 31 March 2012 (Source : Automotive Tyre Manufactures Association 2011-12 ("ATMA")). We own and operate two integrated tyre manufacturing plants located at Balasore, Odisha (the "Balasore Tyre Plant") and Haridwar, Uttarakhand (the "Laksar Tyre Plant") with a combined total installed capacity of 298,660 MT of tyres as of 31 March 2013. Our tyres are marketed under the brand name "Birla Tyres". We own and operate two cement manufacturing plants, located at Sedam, Karnataka (the "Vasavadatta Cement Plant") and Basantnagar, Andhra Pradesh (the "Kesoram Cement Plant"). Our cement business has enjoyed an operating history of over 40 years, catering to the regional demands in Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh and Maharashtra. Our plants are strategically located near our leased limestone deposits in the states of Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh. We have a combined total installed capacity of 7.25 million MT as of 31 March 2013. Our cement is marketed under the brand name "Birla Shakti" and "Vasavadatta Cement". We maintain separate marketing and distribution networks for our tyre and cement operations, comprising internal sales and marketing teams of 491 persons for tyre products and 132 persons for cement products. We also have agreements with approximately 209 tyre agents and 16 cement agents and a network of more than 8,831 tyre dealers and 1,544 cement dealers as of 31 March 2013, who market our tyre and cement products. Our tyre products are primarily distributed to purchasers located across India, while our cement and clinker is sold regionally to purchasers located in Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh and Maharashtra. In addition, we also manufacture viscose rayon, filament yarn and transparent paper. Our rayon and transparent paper plant is located at Hooghly, West Bengal. Our rayon is marketed under the brand name "Kesoram Rayon", while our transparent paper is marketed under the brand name "Kesophane". The tyre, cement and rayon (including transparent paper and chemicals) business operations contributed 62.6%, 32.9% and 4.5%, respectively, of our total revenues for the year ended 31 March 2012 and 59.3%, 35.2% and 5.5%, respectively, of our total revenues for the year ended 31 March 2013. For the years ended 31 March 2012 and 2013, our loss before tax was Rs. 710.3 crore and Rs. 377.2 crore, and our net loss for the year was Rs. 379.7 crore and Rs. 329.2 crore, respectively. We plan to recommence construction of a new manufacturing unit at our Balasore Tyre Plant for the production of passenger car radial tyres with an expected capacity of 80 MT per day, subject to certain regulatory approvals. See "-On going capacity expansion initiative-Passenger car radial unit at Balasore Tyre Plant". We believe that this new capacity when added will make us one of few tyre companies in India that is able to offer a complete range of tyres across all vehicle sectors. We have also started expansion of our existing truck and bus radial tyre manufacturing capacity. See "-On going capacity expansion initiative-Truck and bus radial expansion at Laksar Tyre Plant". We own our registered office at 8th floor, Birla Building, 9/1, R.N. Mukherjee Road, Kolkata 700 001, India. Our Equity Shares are currently listed on the BSE, NSE and CSE in India. Our Equity Shares are currently not traded on the CSE. The GDRs of our Company are listed on the Luxembourg Stock Exchange. The closing price of our Equity Shares on 21 May 2013 on the BSE was Rs. 73.95 per Equity Share and on the NSE was Rs. 74.15 per Equity Share. As of 21 May 2013, our market capitalization on the BSE was Rs. 338.25 crore and on the NSE was Rs. 339.17 crore. |