By IANS,
Kolkata : India’s leading dry cell battery manufacturer Eveready Industries is eyeing a growth of 10 percent in 2009-10 as against a revenue decline of eight percent the previous year.
“We hope the de-growth will be arrested, and we are expecting a 10 percent growth. Our sales volumes should grow by 55 percent,” Eveready executive vice-chairman and managing director Deepak Khaitan said at the company’s 74th annual general meeting here Friday.
Khaitan also said the company has cut its debt burden in 2007-08, and that it hoped to become debt-free by selling off the land owned by its closed Hyderabad plant next year.
“We have 25 acres of land there. We have to give VRS (voluntary retirement scheme payments) to 25-30 workers. When real estate prices go up next year, we will sell it and become debt-free,” he said.
The company closed down the Hyderabad plant, which had about 200 employees, as a cost-cutting measure.
Khaitan said the Eveready management was negotiating with the labour unions about re-opening the Cossipore plant in Kolkata, which has been shut down since last September.
“We had no other option but to suspend operations there due to unjustified demands by a section of workers and a very aggressive stand taken by them,” he said.
“We are talking to the labour unions and trying to impress upon them the need to trim the workforce to improve the operations”.
The company has also acquired a majority stake in Uniross of France, which is into the rechargeable battery business.
The BM Khaitan group company hopes to have a manufacturing facility in China through Uniross, apart from planning to market the French brand in India, where it enjoys a market share of about 51 percent.
Battery contributes close to 70 percent of the company’s turnover, though it is also into lighting, packet tea and flashlight businesses.