History of Shree Digvijay Cement Comp. Ltd.

YEAR EVENTS 1944 - The Comp. was incorporated at Jamnagar. The main objective of the Comp. is to manufacture cement & works mines, quarries etc. Cement is marketed under the trade name 'Lotus'.

1949 - During the year the factory commenced production.

1955 - 30,000 No. of equity shares issued as rights in proportion 1:2.

1956 - 40,000 Pref. shares issued at par as rights to Pre. shareholders in prop. 1:1. 45,000 Right Equity shares issued [Prem. Rs. 17.50 per share: Prop. 1:2s].

1960 - A plant for manufacturing asbestors cement pipes & sheets was originally intended to be installed by Company subsidiary, Laxmi Asbestos Products, limited The Comp. decided to instal the plant at one of its Departments. Accordingly, the licence was transferred to the Company name.

1962 - 13,500 No. of equity shares issued at a prem. of Rs. 50 each to John Manvile Corporation.

1963 - 50,000 Right Equity shares issued. [prem. Rs. 100 each prop. 1:3s]. Further 1,500 No. of equity shares issued at a prem. of Rs. 50 per share to John Manvile Corporation.

1966 - 49,878 Bonus Equity shares issued in the proportion 1:4.

1979 - Laxmi Asbestos Products Ltd., is a wholly owned subsidiary of the Company. Shree Satyanarayan Investments Co. Ltd., became a wholly owned subsidiary of company. As per the scheme of Amalgamation of Hastings Mills, Ltd., with the Comp. the Fort William Co., limited became a subsidiary of company.

- 49,876 Bonus Equity shares issued in the proportion 1:5.

1980 - The Comp. undertook to change one of its kilns to dry process with induction of latest precalcinator technology. The Company was granted a letter of intent for resultant increase in capacity by 4.85 lakhs tonnes.

1981 - A letter of intent was received for expansion of asbestos cement sheet capacity by 36,000 tonnes. This project was in an advanced stage & it was expected to be commissioned shortly. Industrial licence was also received for increasing the asbestos cement pipes capacity by 30,000 tonnes per annum.

- Johns Manville Corporation, U.S.A. are the technical consultants of Comp. for asbestos cement project. They have also been appointed as sole selling agents for Company asbestos products for Middle East & African countries.

- Government of Gujarat agreed in principle to sanction mining leases, for limestone, necessary to implement the Modernisation & expansion scheme.

1982 - In Synthetic Fabrics Division Labour indiscipline & low productivity adversely affected the working. A lock-out was declared from 30th March, 1983. The lock-out was lifted on 25th July, 1984.

- The Production in Jute Division was affected due to continuing low productivity & labour indiscipline which led to lock-out from 26th February. The operations could be resumed only from 19th August.

- Government introduced partial decontrol of cement from 28th February, & also increased the retention price for levy cement.

- A scheme was formulated in the Synthetic Fabrics Division for installation of new automatic looms & jute dyeing machine in the process house to improve plant efficiency.

- The Comp. drew up a modernisation scheme for change over of one of kilns from wet to dry process with induction of precalcination technology.

- Pursuant to the scheme of amalgamation Hastings Mills, Ltd., was amalgamated with the Comp. with effect from 1st April. As per the terms of scheme, the entire undertaking of Hastings Mills comprising of [as] Jute Mill, [bs] Synthetic Fabrics Division, [cs] Coir & Felt Division & [ds] Investments, etc., were transferred to the company. In consideration, the Comp. issued to the shareholders of Hastings Mills 40,000 No. of equity shares of Rs. 100 each, 35,000 - 13.5% redeemable cumulative preference shares of Rs. 100 each & 25,000 - 15% unsecured debentures of Rs. 100 each.

- 40,000 No. of Equity shares & 35,000 - 13% Pref. shares issued without payment in cash & allotted to members of Hastings Mills, Ltd., on its merger with the Comp. with effect from 1st April.

1983 - The Comp. was granted a letter of intent for installing a fresh cement capacity of 12 lakh tonnes per annum in two phases of 6 lakh tonnes each at Beawar in Rajasthan. A new company, Shree Cement Ltd., was formed to implement Beawar Cement project.

- The Cement production went down due to load shedding & power trippings at Digvijaygram works & closure for a part of the year of clinker grinding plant at Mumbai.

- The Comp. decided to instal two imported diesel generating sets of 5000 KVA each to cope up with load sheddings & power cuts.

- The Comp. procured 61,566 No. of equity shares of Rs. 100 each in Digvijay Investments, Ltd., out of shares offered for sale at par by West Coast Paper Mills, limited Therefore, it became a subsidiary of Company.

1984 - The production of cement further dropped due to dismantling of a kiln of capacity of 2 tonnes from 30th June, under the modernisation scheme.

- As on 31st December, the Company fixed assets except motor vessels were revalued & the net surplus arising out of this was credited to revaluation reserve.

1986 - The overall working was affected due to fall in market price as a result of creation of new capacities & relaxation in levy quota by Government. The lock-out in the Mumbai Cement mill was lifted on 20th October, on settlement with the employee union.

- The Company application for financial assistance for modernisation & rehabilitation was at an advanced stage of consideration by financial institutions & the bank.

- Synthetic Fabrics Division management was forced to declare a lock-out effective from 15th February, following labour unrest & operational constraints.

- The prospects for products marketed under the brand name 'RILAXON' appeared encouraging.

1987 - Production of clinker & cement declined due to low offtake, hike in raw materials costs & power tariff etc.

- In Jute Division the working results were unsatisfactory due to depressed market conditions, on Acc. of drought & decline in demand from food & fertilizer sectors.

- The Comp. filed a petition in the Gujarat High Court for conversion of 79,940 - 5% Redeemable Cumulative Preference Shares of Rs. 100 each into Non-convertible debentures of Rs. 100 each on 1:1 basis effective from 1st January, 1988. The Scheme was approved & accordingly, 79,940 - 14% non-convertible debentures of Rs. 100 each were issued.

- Sibpur Mills, limited was incorporated on 23rd June, as a subsidiary of The Fort William Co., limited with the object of manufacturing jute goods & steel wires & ropes.

- As on 31st December, the Company assets were revalued & the net surplus arising out of this was credited to the revaluation reserve.

1988 - The Comp. became a sick industrial Comp. within the meaning of section 3[is] [os] of Sick Industrial Companies [Special Provisionss] Act, 1985.

1989 - The improved unit realisation in cement sales was largely neutralised due to rise in cost of production.

- Sheet production showed a marginal improvement while that of pipes suffered a set back. The demand for pipes had declined so much that the capacity utilisation in the industry was dropped to around 35%. The working of division suffered also due to steep increase in the cost of imported asbestos fibre.

- Production of carpet backing cloth was curtailed due to unremunerative market conditions. The raw jute prices also increased substantailly which adversely affected the working of the Jute division.

- Dividend rate on Pref. shares raised from 13 1/2% to 14% effective from 1st April.

1990 - With the decrease in raw asbestos fibre supplied by MMTC and devaluation of Rupee vis-a-vis major currencies, the working of the division was expected to be constrained.

- An agreement was reached with the unions for voluntary retirement of workmen from the Synthetic Fabrics Division. The Division continued to remain closed.

- An agreement was signed with labour unions for increasing production in the Coir & Felt division.

1991 - During the Ist quarter of unit had to declare a lock-out from 18th April, to 6th May, following labour trouble. Production was again affected due to suspension of work at the mill from 28th January, 1992 to 17th March, 1992.

- At a hearing on 10th July, BIFR advised the Comp. to disinvest its holding in other companies which was not acceptable. Therefore, the Comp. appealed to the Appellate Authority for Industrial & Financial Reconstruction [AAIFRs] which kept the matter pending.

- The Comp. had represented to the AAIFR that on the singular ground of profit earned by Company, the Comp. is out of the purview of Sick Industrial Companies [Special Provisionals] Act, 1985 & that the reference by Comp. to the BIFR be considered infructuous & the Comp. be declared a non-sick Company.

- 3,39,255 Rights equity shares issued at par [prop. 1:1s]. Another 16,961 No. of equity shares issued to the employees.

1992 - Production decreased due to labour problem. The Company's application for modernisation was sanctioned by financial institutions & steps were taken to implement the scheme.

1994 - Domestic sales were affected by epidemic conditions in Surat.

- Production & sale of pipes was lower due to lack of adequate orders.

- Operation of Coil & Felt division was suspended from 19th March, 1995 owing to indicipline & productivity norms being not followed by workers.

- The Comp. approved a scheme of arrangement for transfer of four division of Comp. viz. Ahmedabad Cement Mill, Fibre products division, Shreeram Silk [Synthetic Fabricss] division and Coir and Felt & [iis] Fort William Co. limited to Gujarat Composites limited [GCLs] with effect from 1st July. In consideration it was proposed to allot one equity share of Rs. 10 each of GCL for every three equity shares of Rs. 10 each held in the Comp. to the shareholders of Company.

- Equity shares sub-divided into Rs. 10 paid-up.

1995 - Coir & Felt Production was suspended due to work suspension which was lifted from 3rd September, 1996.

1996 - Production & sales of fiber was lower due to lack of adequate orders from State Water Boards.

- Johns Manville Corporation, U.S.A. are the technical consultants of Comp. for asbestos cement project. They have also been appointed as sole selling agents for company asbestos products for Middle East & African countries.

- 5,00,000 No. of equity shares allotted at par to the FIs on conversion of rupee loan. 2006

-Shree Digvijay Cement Comp. Ltd has informed that Shri K C Birla has been appointed as an Additional Director on the Board of Company.