Century Ply mulls manufacturing unit in Odisha

Kolkata-based plywood and other interior infrastructure materials manufacturer Century Plyboards (India) Pvt Ltd is exploring the possibility of setting up a manufacturing unit in Odisha to cater to the growing demand for its products in the eastern region.Speaking to TOI, Keshav Bhajanka, executive director of the company, said, "We are contemplating various opportunities for expanding our capacity in this region. Setting up a new unit in Odisha is definitely an option." However, the company is yet to chalk out a definite plan, he added.
Bhajanka recently met Odisha chief minister Mohan Charan Majhi when the latter was in Kolkata earlier this month to woo investors. Asked what transpired between them, Bhajanka said, "We met the chief minister with a thought process that Odisha can be a potential market for our future expansion. The CM also briefed us about all the developments taking place in Odisha and the progress made by the state in the fields of infrastructure and ease of doing business."Eastern India is one of the largest markets of the company and it has made substantial investments in this region over the past few years, Bhajanka said. The company has a total of eight manufacturing units across the country and two of them are located in the east — one at Joka in Kolkata, and the other in Guwahati."We have done brownfield expansion in our Guwahati unit and have also been constantly adding capacity to the Kolkata unit across all product ranges to cater to rising demand for our products," Bhajanka said. "However, with a robust growth of around 20% in our business in this part of the country, the current capacity of the two plants won't be enough to meet the demand going forward, and we have to add new capacity," he observed.