Indravati plans sugar unit at Koraput

Indravati Industries Limited (IIL), an Orissa-based company, has decided to set up a sugar industry in south Orissa's Koraput district.

The proposed unit will have an installed capacity of 2,500 tonnes crushing per day (TCPD) and is estimated to cost Rs 96 crore.

The company has sought 100 acres at Aunil village in Borigumma block of the district to set up the unit. Company officials have already discussed the project with chief secretary, Ajit Tripathy, and submitted a proposal in this regard to the state-owned Industrial Promotion and Investment Corporation of Orissa Ltd.

It expected to get about Rs 76 crore from the financial institutes, while the rest Rs 20 crore will be contributed by the promoters.

"As soon as the land acquisition process is completed, the company will start its construction work. The project is expected to go on stream next year," a company spokesperson told Business Standard.

The company has expressed the hope to get land without any obstacle as one identified for setting up of the plant belonged to the government.

"Neither the private land is necessary nor there is any issue of displacement," he said.

A portion of the proposed site, however, come under the reserve category and needs to be de-reserved for handing it over to the company. The process of de-reservation will not take much time after the government clears the project, he added.

The company also proposed to establish several other ancillary industries in the second phase after successful implementation of the project.

The proposed factory will not face any hurdle in getting raw material for the unit as the farmers of Koraput and neighbouring Nabarangpur districts grow sugarcane in about 8,000 hectares.

Once the factory starts operation, more number of farmers in both the districts would switch over to cultivation of sugarcane, which is a cash crop, from traditional crops like paddy and other vegetables, the agriculture officials said.

The factory will also procure sugarcane from some other neighbouring districts like Kalahandi and Rayagada.

Sugarcane growers in Koraput and Nabarangpur districts now send their products to Bolangir sugar factory, while some of them produce jaggery from the sugarcane.