The 21 MW windmill project of the Gujarat Alkalies and Chemicals Limited (GACL) at the Maliya Miyana site in Rajkot district will be commissioned by March 2010, a top company official said on Thursday.

"In its endeavour to further reduce dependence on grid power, GACL is setting up an additional 21 MW wind mill project by March this year," Managing Director Guruprasad Mohapatra told PTI after a meeting of the board of directors of GACL approving the financial results for the third quarter ended on December 31, 2009.

The company is also likely to commission additional 100 tonnes per day (TDP) Flaker Unit, additional 50 TPD Caustic Soda by debottlenecking so as to further improve upon the top line and bottom line of the company, he said.

The company's earlier announced projects viz 90 MW captive power project, 600 TPD Chlor?Alkali project Hydrazine project, Hydrogen Peroxide, Polyols and Phenol Projects involving an investment of more than Rs 2600 crore are progressing as scheduled and are expected to go on stream by 2012, Mohaptra said.

He said that the company has gone ahead with new products like Calcium Chloride, Bleaching powder and Tolune Based Chemicals to improve its top Line.

Mohapatra said that the company has achieved net sales of Rs 309.38 crore for the quarter ended on December 31, 2009 against Rs 319.12 crore in the corresponding quarter of the previous year.

While net sales for the nine months ending December, 2009 remained at Rs 971.86 crore against Rs.1,047.83 crore in the corresponding period of the previous year, he added.

The profit before tax of third quarter stood at Rs 22.66 crore against Rs.45.27 crore in the similar period of the previous year, which Mohaptra said was mainly due to impact of erosion in price realisations for the Caustic Soda Group products in particular and prevailing recession and slowdown in Indian economy in general.

The Profit After Tax (PAT) for the quarter achieved to Rs.19.31 crore against Rs.32.45 crore in the GACL similar period of the previous year, he added.

Similarly, the Profit After Tax (PAT) remained at Rs.86.21 crore for the nine months ended on December 31, 2009, against Rs.170.69 crore in the corresponding period of the previous year.