INDIA-BASED Ashapura has advanced from being a single mineral company to a specialist in industrial minerals. Bentonite, the multi-tasking mineral, continues to be a core product with diverse applications in industries that range from agriculture to environment and foundry to edible oils and cosmetics to medicine.
Ashapura Group is one of the significant global players in bauxite and is amongst the world’s top five bentonite companies.
Ashapura also dominates the value-added segments in the country for bleaching clay, geosynthetic clay liners, clay catalysts and calcined bauxite.
New applications for the industries presently being catered as well as for new industries are developed every year through indigenous and global research. The company’s diversification into bauxite was a major move and today Ashapura is among the key players in bauxite from India.
“Our strategy to expand our mineral portfolio is paying rich dividends as we have added kaolin, attapulgite, barites, feldspar and many other allied minerals to our product portfolio,” says a company spokesman.
A new exciting area, with immense growth potential and limitless possibilities, opened when the company decided to move into value added products. At present its major value added products are bleaching clay, clay catalysts, geosynthetic clay liners (GCL), calcined bauxite and very soon it will be alumina, he says.
Established in 1960, Ashapura Group is India’s largest muti-mineral solutions provider. The flagship company Ashapura Minechem is listed on India’s premier exchanges. Ashapura Minechem is a part of the BSE Midcap and BSE 500 indices.
The group has mining and mineral processing facilities in Gujarat, Maharashtra, Karnataka, Kerala, Andhra Pradesh and Orissa. Today Ashapura Group has attained global status with projects in Belgium, Nigeria, Oman and Malaysia.
Ashapura is among the few mining companies that offers comprehensive facilities under a single roof. “Our proximity to ports and the fact that we own our own port and fleet of ships give us the competitive edge in today’s market place where costs and time are of the essence,” he says.
Globalisation has come to stay and has opened new areas of growth for Indian companies. Without diversification and global expansion companies cannot survive. “At Ashapura we are continually monitoring market changes and demands and this has resulted in several projects both global and local.
New projects will be a continuous process if we have to maintain our growth momentum,” he says.
The phrase “innovate or die“ is not an exaggeration in today’s fiercely competitive environment where everyday you have new initiatives and the rate of obsolete technologies keep increasing, he says.
“At Ashapura we have since our inception recognised the importance of knowledge and innovation. Over the years we have worked with specialists across the world to ensure our products not just meet but surpass the most stringent quality controls. Our Knowledge and Innovation Centre and our technological synergies with associates across the world keep us continually in the forefront,” he adds.
