Ban on Apex Bank hits sugar co-op funding

 The fate of around two lakh farmers and workers in Maharashtra hangs in the balance as funding to nearly a dozen co-operative sugar factories has been choked following delicensing of the Apex Urban Co-operative Bank of Maharashtra and Goa.

 An Apex Bank-led consortium of banks has a term loan and working capital exposure of around Rs 400 crore to these factories.

 Though the sugarcane crushing season started three weeks ago, these factories are yet to tie up working capital.

 A sugar factory having a crushing capacity of 1,250 metric tonne per day requires Rs 20 crore working capital per season. A bigger sugar factory with a crushing capacity of 2,500 metric tonne per day requires Rs 40 crore working capital per season.

 The factories fear that efforts to get public sector banks to take over Apex Bank