NSL Sugars aims 36,000 tpd cane crushing capacity by 2012

Hyderabad-based NSL Group today said it is looking for acquisition of sugar factories to jack up its cane crushing capacity to 36,000 tonnes per day (tpd) by the end of 2012, a top company official said.

"We have 6,500 tonnes per day cane crushing capacity now in two plants- both located at Karnataka. By 2012-end, we hope to reach 36,000 tpd capacity," NSL Group Chairman and Managing Director M Prabhakar Rao told PTI on the sidelines of a conference here.

NSL Group is a diversified firm and has presence in industries like sugar, textiles, renewable power and seeds among others. The Group runs its sugar business through NSL Sugars.

Apart from the two greenfield plants of 4,000 tpd each, which are set to be commissioned in the next one-two months, NSL Sugars is also expanding capacity of the existing plant at Karnataka by 3,000 tpd to 5,000 tpd, set to completion by end of the next year at an investment of Rs 300cr.

The two upcoming plants are coming up in Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh at a cumulative outlay of Rs 700 crore.

"With the the commissioning of the upcoming plants and the expanded capacity, our cane crushing capacity will go up to close to 18,000 tpd. We will double that capacity to 36,000 tpd in the next two years, most of which will come from inorganic route," Rao said.

Rao said that the company would look for Madhya Pradesh, karnataka, Uttar Pradesh and Maharashtra for acquisition, but said that nothing has been finalised yet.

"We are looking for sugar mills having 5,000 tpd capacity or close to that. Since there is hardly any scope to go for capacity expansion through the greenfield route, we will have to look for acquisitions and we will go for it. And, if it is acquisition, it should be in that range," Rao added.