Mr Niraj Bajaj CMD of Mukand Limited said that it expects revenue to rise 50% in 2008-09 fiscal as investment in new capacity begins to pay off. He added that the company, which invested INR 3 billion in 2007, expects steel making capacity to rise 80% by October 2008 to 0.5 million tonnes.

Mr Bajaj said that "The focus is really to increase capacities between our specialty steel and industrial machinery division." He added that it is able to pass on higher input cost to customers that will help revenue cross INR 30 billion in 2008-09 fiscal.

Mukand has an order backlog of INR 5.8 billion to manufacture heavy duty cranes and process plant equipment. It posted a 45% YoY drop in its consolidated net profit for the financial year 2008-09 on rising input costs of coking coal, iron ore and fuel oil.

Mr Bajaj said that "Because of absolutely unprecedented rise in the cost of major steel making inputs, we saw a dip in profits. The increase has been so stupendous that at one shot we were not able to pass it on to the customers."