GAEL drops plan to set up 2 maize processing units

Facilities were expected to come at an investment of Rs 170 cr.

Gujarat Ambuja Exports (GAEL), an Ahmedabad-based agro processing and trading company, has dropped its plan to set up two maize processing units.

The company, which was expected to set up the units in Maharashtra and Bihar with close to Rs 170 crore, scrapped the projects due to the ongoing recession and low demand for maize. Earlier, it had deferred a Rs 80-crore plan to to foray into the real estate sector against the backdrop of the slowdown.

GAEL had acquired land in Patna for one of the two maize processing units, a 500-tonne-per-day plant, for which it earmarked close to Rs 90 crore. The second unit was to come up at Jalgaon in Maharashtra. The processing capacity of the this unit was around 400-500 tonnes per day and the investment pledged for it was in the vicinity of Rs 80 crore.

"In the wake of the slowdown, we have decided to drop both these projects as of now," said Vijay Gupta, chairman and managing director, GAEL.

Apart from this, the demand for maize products is also low. "Majority of the maize production in the country is consumed by individuals and poultry industry," he added.

Currently, the company has two maize processing plants, one each in Uttaranchal and Himmatnagar in Gujarat, with a total processing capacity of 800 tonnes per day.

GAEL had earlier floated an entity, the Esvee Group, to enter into new areas of businesses. GAEL was to take up a few township projects in various cities, including Ludhiana, Amritsar and Chandigarh in Punjab, Surat and Vadodara in Gujarat, Hubli and Mangalore in Karnataka, Nasik and Pune in Maharashtra, Kochi in Kerala and Tamil Nadu's Coimbatore.