Balrampur eyes Nov start-up

Sugar firm has at present four mills in Balrampur, Babhnan, Tulsipur and Haidergarh

The state of the art Akbarpur plant of Balrampur Chini Mills at Uttarpradesh was expected to start production from November, the managing director of Balrampur Chini, Vivek Saraogi, said here today.

In a communiqué to the shareholders, he said the proposed Akbarpur plant with a capacity of 7000 ton crushing per day (TCD) would be commissioned by November 2005.

The Akbarpur plant was worth Rs 190 crore, the largest by the company in a single plant.

According to Saraogi, the unit enjoyed excellent potential as it was located in an irrigated cane growing region with a low existing crushing percentage.

"The plant is equipped with 10MW of incidental co-generation capacity and I am optimistic that we will crush no less than 60 lakh quintals in its very first season, helping us achieve more than break even," he said.

Balarampur has at present four mills in Balrampur, Babhnan, Tulsipur and Haidergarh.

The company produced 3.92 lakh ton of sugar in 2004-05.

The Akbarpur project would be financed by way of private placement of equity shares and internal accruals.

The company has already placed 19.33 lakh shares at Rs 585 to Citicorp International Finance Corporation (CIFC) and New Venron Bharat.

"This is the first FDI in sugar industry in India and we received the proceedings within 35 days of entering into discussion with them," added Saraogi.

Commenting on the performance of the outfit in 2004-05, he said, "It gives me satisfaction to report our best ever financial numbers which we achieved in FY2005. Our better performance was enabled by higher sugar volumes, increasing recoveries, and a favourable sugar pricing environment. Our allied business of alcohol production and power generation also delivered improved results," he said.

According to the Balrampur Chini MD, the extra neutral alcohol unit at Babhnan has also started production from April 2005.

"The outlook for sugar and alcohol business in the current year remains positive, primarily driven by efficiency, expanded volumes and scale, and supported by stable sugar prices," he added.