Kolkata: Pig iron manufacturer Tata Metaliks will invest Rs.750 million over the next two years to construct a sinter plant at its Kharagpur unit, a top company official said here Wednesday.

"The board has approved investment of Rs.750 million for a sinter plant in Kharagpur, which will be built in two years," Tata Metaliks managing director Harsh K. Jha annnounced at the company's annual general meeting.

This is in addition to the ductile iron pipe plant in Kharagpur it is currently constructing in collaboration with Kubota Corp of Japan. The plant is expected to be completed by 2010.

Tata Metaliks, a Tata Steel subsidiary, will also diversify into the small and medium size casting business by setting up a foundry in Kharagpur, company chairman H.M. Nerurkar said.

This business would service emerging industries like automotive and general engineering in eastern and western India, Nerurkar added.

"We don't see many organised players with high technology background in this sector in eastern and western India," he said. The company will finalise the foundry project in the next six months.

The foundry business would be shifted from Kharagpur to somewhere in south India in the coming years.

Nerurkar said his company considered Madhya Pradesh to be a promising area for business, but maintained it was premature to talk of setting up a steel plant in that state.

But he admitted Tata Metaliks has applied to the Madhya Pradesh government for an iron ore and coal block.

The company is also eyeing a steel plant in Karnataka with an 800,000-tonne capacity.

Tata Metaliks has registered a turnover of Rs.3.11 billion this quarter, compared to Rs.2.08 billion in the last quarter of the previous fiscal.

Its net profit during the quarter is Rs.202.3 million, compared to Rs.153.6 million in the first quarter in 2007-08.

"We expect a 15-20 percent growth in revenue in the current fiscal," Nerurkar said.

Last fiscal, the company logged a turnover of Rs.11.85 billion.