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Orientbell Tiles, owned and promoted by the Daga family based in Kolkata, is exploring capacity expansion through debottlenecking at existing plants as markets open up and demand growth follows a trajectory similar to last year. It is the third quarter in a row except for the period of April to June when the restrictions induced by the second wave of Covid were in place when the company announced further investments to augment capacity at its existing plants. The current debottlenecking is going to be done at the facility of glazed vitrified tiles at Sikandrabad in Uttar Pradesh, at an estimated price of Rs 11 crore. The ramp-up will witness expansion to 4 million sq metre (MSM) per annum of the existing line to be completed by Q1FY23 and funded through internal accruals. As indicated by the Chief Financial Officer of Orientbell Tiles, Himanshu Jindal, debottlenecking is capital efficient and helps the company enter into demand growth across North India and East India markets. In Q1FY22 (April to June), volume off-take was hit because of the second wave of Covid. The company recorded a net loss (after tax) of Rs 5 crore despite an over 100% increase in combined turnover on a YoY basis to Rs 87 crore during the period. The main sales (to trade) have been good in Tier-1, Tier-2 and Tier-3 markets, with premium offerings driving numbers. The additions of channel partners helped in pushing the sales up. Even their own store numbers are up. The cost increase of 6% YoY and 2% on a sequential basis because of the increase in the price of materials have not dampened demand either. Image Source