Anil Products to expand capacity

Ahmedabad-based starch manufacturer Anil Products Limited (APL) is expanding its corn wet milling (CWM) capacity from the current 450 tonnes per day (TPD) to nearly 2,000 TPD within the next two years.

The company has lined up around Rs 500 crore for enhancing capacity, improving product and process, technological advances and R&D for development of new products and applications.

According to Amol Sheth, managing director, APL, the company has taken up capacity expansion to cater to the needs of the growing retail market. This is also in line with the capacity scale-up in industries such as pharmaceuticals, textiles, paper, food and chemicals, he added.

"We are looking to scale up our operations in CWM to develop value-added products for both domestic and overseas markets like the Far East, the West Asia and the African region. We will also be setting up a greenfield plant, which will be completed within the next 2-3 years," said Sheth, adding that the company is yet to decide on the location for the plant and modes of funding.

With a key clientele that includes, Heinz, Dabur, Arvind Mills, Century Textiles, Parle, Raymond and Welspun, APL expects to a turnover of around Rs 1,400 crore post expansion. For the fiscal 2006-07, the company registered a turnover of Rs 210 crore and is targeting a growth of 5 per cent in the financial year 2007-08.