Puri Oil Mills to invest Rs 100 cr in diversification

"The plans are in its nascent stage but we are firm to execute our micro-hydel power project in Himachal Pradesh and Haryana," said the Managing Director of the company, Vivek Puri. "We have identified the sites and awaiting formal clearances from the concerned authorities," he added.

The company plans to produce about 18 Mw from various projects. Talking about his oil business, Puri added that the mustard oil was earlier identified as poor man's oil but has now graduated to higher strata due to its medicinal benefits.

To cater to the niche market with a better quality, the company has developed a low calorie mustard oil to be launched in a few months. P Sanjivani, the organic mustard oil that was launched in metros last year, he said, was for the health conscious urban customers.

The company tied-up with Rajasthan-based Sunrise Consortium of farmers to outsource the organic mustard seeds. He told that they do not intend to do contract farming with farmers as the legislation to honour the contract is weak in our country. There are farms in our country those are chemical-free and can be used to grow mustard organically.

He added that they also intend to export Sanjivani oil to the US, the UK and West Asia once the ban on oil export is lifted. The expansion of retail chains in urban India, he said, would help them to reach out to the burgeoning middle class.

The company produces 1,500 tonnes of mustrad oil every month extracted at Moga (600 tonnes), Bahadurgarh in Haryana (450 tonnes) and Damtal (Kangra) in Himachal Pardesh (450 tonnes).

Accroding to Puri, the turnover of the company in March 2007 was Rs 180 crore that is expected to rise to Rs 200 crore in the next financial year.