US firm plans Rs 1000 cr desalination plant in TN

The US-based $968 million Beta Empire Group is in talks with the government of Tamil Nadu to set up a Rs 1,000 crore water desalination-cum-power plant in Chennai.

The Group, which has its presence in a wide spectrum of business segments including edible nuts & food products, pharmaceuticals, shipping and consultancy, is venturing into the water desalination in India for the first time with this Chennai project. The Chennai desalination plant would have a capacity of 30,000 tonne per day.

The group chairman J Rajmohan Pillai and his team, who are currently in India exploring more opportunities for the new venture, said that the company would invest about $200 million (about Rs 1,000 crore) in the Chennai project initially.

The group's infrastructure division ""Pace CFS will be investing in this project through 100 per cent foregin direct investment (FDI) route and it will float a new Indian subsidiary to implement and run the desalination and power plants in the country.

"We are in talks with a few more state governments in the country to set up similar projects in other parts of India," said Pillai.

The company sources said in order to expand this new venture in India, it might tie-up with a local partner, who can liaison with the local authorities for selection of location and also for the necessary clearances.

The technology partner of Beta in the desalination and power project business is Varia Oil, which is a leading player in the oil and refine products trade globally.

Varia Oil will introduce a new system of desalination which is more effective and cheaper thorough this technology collaboration with Beta.

The Beta Group, which is one of the large scale players in the global edible nuts and value added products, is also planning to set up a health food processing plant at Satara in Maharashtra with an investment of Rs 100 crore, as part of a major expansion in its Nut King branded health food business.

Pillai said the group has plans to put up Nut King factories in the four metros of India in the next one year. "We would invest about Rs 50 crore in each of this factory which will have world class processing and packaging activities," he added.

Nut King, a Rs 80 crore brand within the group is based in India at present. Pillai said the company aims to make this a Rs 250 crore brand in next two years.