Basmati rice processor LT Foods today said it plans to invest around Rs 70 crore to foray into non-basmati and bio-gas generation segments next year.
The BSE-listed entity, which has two basmati processing plants each in Punjab and Haryana and one in Madhya Pradesh, is in the process of acquiring 50 acres of land in Punjab to set up non-basmati processing and bio-gas generation plants at a single location.
"The land acquisition is likely to be completed in the next three months and the plants might go on stream by next September," LT Foods Managing Director V K Arora told PTI.
The funding modalities are yet to be worked out, he said adding that it might be in the 70:30 debt-equity ratio and for part-financing the equity part, LT Foods may rope in a private equity fund.
The rice plant will have 25 tonnes per hour processing capacity and the bio-gas plant, using husks as raw material, will have five MW power generation capacity.
Meanwhile, Arora said LT Foods' turnover in the current fiscal should go up to around Rs 1,200 crore from Rs 708.63 crore in last fiscal.
The company, which sells its products under the "Daawat" brand name, generates around 50 per cent of its turnover from India, 30 per cent from the Middle East, Africa and the rest 20 per cent from the US, where it had acquired a firm in 2007.
The US subsidiary, USA Royal, enjoys 50 per cent of the country's one lakh tonne per annum basmati market, Arora claimed.