Rana sugars - Ethanol Plant

Rana Sugars Ltd, part of the Chandigarh-headquartered Rana Group, has plans to set up an ethanol unit in Moradabad (Uttar Pradesh) at a cost of Rs 80 crore. The proposed unit will have a production capacity of 180 kilo litres per day of ethanol.

 

The plant will also have the facility for co-generation of 6 Mw of power, which will be sold to the state electricity board. The project will be funded through debt, internal accruals and the Centre’s sugar development fund.

 

“We are going to infuse fresh capital of Rs 80 crore into the proposed project in Moradabad district, on the premises of the sugar mill there. Work on this project is likely to start by October and will take 13-14 months to complete,” said Rana Inder Pratap Singh, the company director.

 

The setting up of the ethanol plant will make the plant a complete integrated unit. The company will sell the ethanol to oil companies. “According to the government regulations, once the company starts commercial production of ethanol, it is bound to sell to oil companies at the rate set by the central government,” he added.

 

Recently, the company’s new sugar unit at Moradabad, which has a crushing capacity of 5,000 tonnes of sugarcane per day and facilities for co-generation of 20 Mw, of power has started commercial production. In addition to this, the company’s second new unit, which has a crushing capacity 5,000 tonnes of sugarcane per day at Rampur district (Uttar Pradesh), will be operational by October 2007.

 

“The company hopes to achieve a turnover of Rs 500 crore by the end of this financial year, as the two new sugar mill at Moradabad and Rampur district will be operational,” he said. Last financial year, the company’s turnover was Rs 200 crore.

 

The group has also diversified into textiles, informatics and infrastructure. In last financial year, the turnover of the group was Rs 330 crore and this year it hopes to have a turnover of Rs 650 crore.

 

The group also plans to enter real estate and is looking at developing a housing project in Mohali with an investment of Rs 150 crore.

 

“Once we get all the necessary clearances from the state government, we will start construction,” Singh said.

Rana Sugars - New Capacity

Looking at the good returns from the power segment, Amritsar-based Rana Sugars Ltd, a part of the Rana Group, is enhancing its co-generation power capacity from 20 Mw to 30 Mw, with an investment of Rs 40.8 crore.

 

The existing unit is an integrated sugar plant with a capacity to crush 5,000 tonne of sugarcane per day and facilities for the co-generation of 20 Mw, situated in Buttar Sevian village, Amritsar.

 

At present, out of its total installed co-generation power capacity of 20 Mw, the company is selling about 10 Mw of surplus power to the Punjab State Electricity Board (PSEB). The rest is used for its own consumption.

 

Therefore, the company is now enhancing its installed co-generation power capacity from 20 Mw to 30 Mw, out of which the company would be selling power capacity about 19.60 Mw of surplus power to PSEB.

 

Speaking to Business Standard, Rana Sugars Ltd General Manager (Finance) Manoj Gupta said, “The project would require a capital investment of Rs. 40.80 crore and would be funded through cash accrual and term loan from the banks and likely to be commissioned by October.”

 

Last year, the company set up a distillery unit with a capacity to produce 60 kilolitres per day, with an initial investment of around Rs 39 crore at Patti, Amritsar.

 

The company is utilising molasses, a by-product of its sugar and grain products, for the manufacture of rectified spirit, ethanol and potable alcohol.

 

The company imported machinery from China, in which 50 per cent of wash and impurities is evaporated and the remaining is burnt in boilers, without polluting the environment, making it a pollution free unit.

 

The setting up of the distillery enabled the company to fully integrate its operations. Its existing sugar plant at Amritsar produces 200 tonne of molasses per day.

 

Also, the company’s is setting up two sugar units at Moradabad and Shahbad, both in Uttar Pradesh, with a capital investment of Rs 418 crore. The proposed units will be integrated units each with a capacity to crush 5,000 tonne of sugarcane per day and facilities for co-generation of 20 Mw of power.

 

While the Shahbad unit has started the new plant at Moradabad (Uttar Pradesh) would be operational by October. Besides the sugar industry, the group has diversified into textiles, informatics and infrastructure.