By Venkatachari Jagannathan

Chennai, Mar 3 (IANS): The sanctions imposed by the US and other nations on Russia may not have any major abrasive effect on India's Carborundum Universal Ltd (CUMI) and its Russian subsidiary Volzhsky Abrasive Plant, officials said.

Last week, Russia launched a military attack against Ukraine, resulting in sanctions imposed by the US and other European countries.

The Volzhsky Abrasive Plant makes silicon carbide, abrasive tools and refractories.

Speaking to IANS on condition of anonymity, an industry source said: "As per the current situation, there will be no major impact on the business. The Russian company deals with different banks and will not be affected by the financial sanctions imposed on that country by the US and others."

At an investor call last month, N. Ananthaseshan, Managing Director of CUMI, had said that 40 per cent of Volzhsky Abrasive Plant's sales gets done in Russia CIS and Ukraine is part of that sales group.

"We also buy raw materials from Ukraine for our abrasives in Russia. So, the equation with the Russian suppliers and customers are pretty normal as of now. And that's why I said we don't see a major disruption happening on the ground while there are definitely a lot of noise in terms of the geopolitical equations," Ananthaseshan had said.

Further, about 60 per cent of Volzhsky Abrasive Plant's production is shipped out to Europe and other countries, and as there are no sanctions on the products, so the company will not be affected, the industry official said.

According to the official, what may impact Volzhsky Abrasive Plant is logistics if Russia's military action in Ukraine extends for a longer period of time, with shipping lines saying they may not call on Russian ports.

However, CUMI did not respond to the questions sent by IANS.