Bajaj Hindusthan has chalked out a capital expenditure plan of Rs 750 crore to increase sugar production capacity to nearly 2 million tonne per annum. According to a release issueed by the company to the BSE today, the capacity will be increased from 53,000 tonne crushed per day (TCD), including three projects, i.e. 21,000 TCD under implementation, to 95,000 TCD by setting up three greenfield plants with aggregate cane crushing capacity of 27,000 TCD and expansion at existing plants aggregating to 15,000 TCD."The company has also decided to withdraw its bid for the 24 mills of UP government. The incremental capacity, which is of the order of 42,000 TCD, is more than the aggregate capacity of the 24 mills," the release added.Construction work at its three greenfield sugar manufacturing plants in Muzaffarnagar and Bijnor districts of western UP were progressing satisfactorily, and are scheduled to commence simultaneous operations in the crushing season beginning October this year.The new plants will increase the company's sugar manufacturing capacities by 0.35 million tonne per annum (TPA) to around 1 million TPA, the release added. Kushagra Nayan Bajaj, chief executive of Bajaj Hindustan, said: "The industry is currently on an upswing with a sharp shortfall in production and a widening demand-supply gap. This presents an opportunity for Bajaj Hindustan, which is now on the threshold of an accelerated growth phase."The three new greenfield projects will come up in Saharanpur, Pilibhit and Lakhimpur regions of UP, and will increase the sugar manufacturing capacity to 2 million tonne per annum."By 2006, the expansions should position us amongst the top six sugar producers, worldwide, helping us achieve economies of scale and globally competitive costs in our operations," Bajaj added.
