Chennai, May 15 (IANS): City-based Murugappa Group plans to invest about Rs 1,250 crore this fiscal towards expansion of its facilities in a bid to log double digit growth, top company officials said on Wednesday.

Murugappa Group President and CFO Sridharan Rangarajan said the company will invest about Rs 1,250 crore in expansion. Of this, Rs 200 crore will be towards Information Technology (IT) in group companies Cholamandalam Investment and Finance Company Ltd and Cholamandalam MS General Insurance Company Limited.

"Last year, we invested Rs 753 crore in expansion of some of our facilities," Rangarajan said.

The group plans to start a housing finance company after obtaining the required regulatory permissions for it.

Group company Carborundum Universal Ltd has already acquired lithium ion battery technology from the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO).

The idea is to understand the technology and look at supplying materials to the makers of such batteries, said Executive Chairman M.M. Murugappan.

The diversified industrial group reported a profit of Rs 79 crore in 2018-19 compared to Rs 28 crore a year ago, on the back of its businesses like nutraceuticals and the sale of its biomass business, Murugappan told reporters here.

He said group company E.I.D.Parry (India) Limited had mothballed two sugar mills in Tamil Nadu following a sugarcane shortage due to drought and shut a sugar mill in Puducherry due to some legal complications.

E.I.D.Parry now has two sugar mills functioning in Tamil Nadu, three in Karnataka and one in Andhra Pradesh.

"Economic uncertainty is a combination of several factors. We hope the situation improves soon. We don't have any plans to exit the sugar business," said Murugappan.