Sops for sugar mills in Maharashtra

The Maharashtra government has announced fiscal incentives for the state sugar mills to ensure that they continue crushing till all the sugarcane available is consumed.

The mills that will continue crushing operations beyond April 16 will get Rs 100 a tonne for every one per cent drop in average recovery rate. The crushing season in the state is likely to continue till May this year, which normally ends by the middle of March.

The mills will further get transport subsidy for crushing additional cane outside their area of operation, according to the directions of the state sugar commissioner.

For mills bringing cane from a distance between 0-50 km from their location, there will be no subsidy. But mills transporting cane from a distance of 51-75 km, will get a subsidy of Rs 50 a tonne, while the subsidy will be Rs 75 a tonne for cane brought from 75 km to 100 km away from the mills, Rs 100 for the distance 101-125 km and Rs 125 for the distance above 125 km from their mills.

"After April 15, the sugar recovery starts declining, owing to a rise in temperatures. The incentive will compensate the loss incurred by mills owing to a drop in recovery," said Ajit Chowgule, secretary, Maharashtra State Cooperative Sugar Federation.

The mills in the state had crushed 624 lakh tonne of sugarcane to produce 71.50 lakh tonne of sugar as on March 26. In the 2006-07 season (October-September), the mills are expected to crush 740 lakh tonne sugarcane and produce sugar in excess of 80 lakh tonne.

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SWEET PILLS

For mills bringing cane from a distance between 0-50 km from their location, there will be no subsidy

The mills in the state had crushed 624 lakh tonne of sugarcane to produce 71.50 lakh tonne of sugar as on March 26

In the 2006-07 season, the mills are expected to crush 740 lt sugarcane