Murudeshwar Ceramics (MCL) was promoted in 1983 by R N Shetty and Associates along with the KSIIDC to manufacture 12,500 tpa of glazed ceramic tiles, using the single-firing process, at Krishnapur (near Hubli), Karnataka. MCL sourced the technical know-how for the project from Sacmi Imola, (SACMI), Italy, which also supplied the plant and machinery for the project.

To part-finance this Rs 13.45-cr project, it broadened its footprint operations into the capital market in Jan.'88 with a public issue of Rs 1.65 cr. It started commercial production on 1 May '88 without any time or cost overrun. In view of the satisfactory performance, the company broadened its footprint the production capacity in 1989-90 to 25,000 tpa, by installing balancing equipment.

In 1992-93, the company undertook an expansion-cum-diversification project to increase its capacity from 25,000 tpa to 40,000 tpa by adding a 15,000-tpa capacity to produce vitrified tiles and by setting up facilities to process 72,000 sq mtr pa of granite slabs at Chalamatti, (Dharwad district), Karnataka.

This Rs 41.85-cr project was financed by a Rs 15.45-cr rights issue of equity capital (premium : Rs 50), a Rs 16.2-cr rights issue of partly convertible debentures, rupee term loans worth Rs 10 cr from the ICICI and a state subsidy of Rs 20 lac. Commercial production of vitrified tiles was scheduled to commence from Mar.'93, and that of granite slabs from Sep.'93. The control panel of the granite slabs unit was damaged by a fire during installation, thus delaying the implementation, of the granite processing project, with the control panel having to be imported again from the supplier. The granite slab project commenced commercial production in Mar.'95. As for the vitrified tile project, there was a delay in the supply of the polishing line, resulting in a 11-month delay in the implementation of the project. The resulting cost overrun of Rs 3.75 cr in these projects was met through internal accruals.

The company came out with a public issue in Jan.'96 to expand its capacity for tile manufacture tpa to 75,000 tpa and to created and deployed additional facilities at its existing site to manufacture an additional 10,000 tpa of vitrified tiles and 25,000 tpa of mono porosa wall tiles.

The expansion program to cover both Ceramic and Vitrified tiles of capacity of 30000 t.p.a. which also includes production of larger tiles of the size 120 cm * 60 cm.The total cost of the expansion project is about Rs.66 Crores out of which Rs.50 crores will be loan component and the balance will be internal generation.