The Bharati Cement Corporation Limited, which has announced the commercialization of its 2.5 million tons plant at Nallalingayapalli in Kadapa district of Andhra Pradesh, has decided to set up its second plant in the state to take up the total capacity to five million tons per annum by 2010, marketing director, Ravinder Reddy, said.

The cement company, which is promoted by Sakshi Group has lined up Rs. 1,420 crore for the Kadapa plant wherein the Sakshi group has a majority stake of 69 per cent in the company and the rest belongs to India Cements, Dalmia Cements and Mr N Prasad of Matrix Laboratories Limited. The Bharati Cement has the largest cement mill in the country with a capacity of 360 tons an hour and also has sufficient market reach to sell its production through 600 distributors based largely in the southern states, he added.

As far as the raw material is concerned, he claimed that the company currently has over 300 million tons of limestone deposits spread over 1,500 acres in Kadapa district but the company business strategy is to focus only on premium segments and has priced its cement at Rs. 260 a bag in Chennai, Rs. 255 in Karnataka and Rs 230 to 240 in Andhra Pradesh. The national demand for cement grew by 12 per cent and the company is confident of capturing the lion share of the cement market.