Meanwhile, the company has increased the capacity of this plant from the earlier 875 pieces a month to 1000 pieces. “We also plan to set up a new plant at Vizag at a cost of Rs 12 crore,” Biswadip Gupta said.

Biswadip Gupta, who has been at the helm of Vesuvius India since its formation in 1992, is now joining one such mega steel plant, JSW Bengal, to be set up in West Bengal with a capacity of 10 million tonne at a cost of Rs 35,000 crore.

In Biswadip Gupta, Vesuvius India will be losing a key executive at a time when its margins have come under increasing pressure despite a moderate rise in the topline which touched Rs 275 crore at the end of calendar 2006. Profit after tax was down to Rs 21 crore from Rs 28 crore earned during 2005.

“The drop in our margins is a consequence of a deliberate move to venture into low value monolithic refractory, which finds applications in steel making using blast furnace or DRI route, as we see future opportunities there,” Chairman SK Gupta told Newsline after the meeting.