Godrej to double fatty acid capacity at Gujarat plant

Will entail an investment of Rs 50 crore over the next 18 months

Godrej Industries today said it will double the production capacity for fatty acids from its plant at Valia in Gujarat, which will entail an investment of Rs 50 crore over the next 18 months.

"The company's board today approved the proposal to expand capacity of our Valia plant. This will be done at an investment of Rs 50 crore and the expanded capacity will be available within 18 months," Godrej Industries Chairman Adi Godrej told PTI.

With the expansion, the fatty acid production capacity will be doubled at the plant, he added. At present, Godrej Industries' Valia plant has fatty alcohols production capacity of 65,000 MT per annum (MTA), which includes a dedicated Export Oriented Unit of 30,000 MTA.

The plant also produces 15,000 MTA of surfactants, 18,000 MTA of stearic acid and 5,000 MTA of glycerin.Besides the Valia plant, the company also has another chemicals manufacturing unit at Vikhroli in Mumbai.

The company had last year announced setting up of a new plant at Ambernath in Maharashtra at an investment of Rs 230 crore."This new plant will become operational in the next two years," Godrej said.

Godrej Industries reported 38.74 per cent jump in its consolidated net profit for the quarter ended December 31, 2010, at Rs 60.77 crore. Its total income during quarter increased by 18.72 per cent to Rs 1,024.17 crore.

Commenting on the outlook, Godrej said: "We expect another strong performance in the fourth quarter. For the entire fiscal, we expect to close it with strong double digits growth both in sales and profit."