Rice-based food complex launched

NPG Rice Mill Private Ltd. has flagged off the first phase of what promises to be the largest rice mill in the eastern region and West Bengal.

The project cost is the region of Rs 25 crore.

Spread over 5 acres, the mill has been financed with loans from Oriental Bank of Commerce (OBC), Mohamad Bakibur Rahaman, managing director of NPG, said.

The first phase of the project was flagged off last week with a capacity to convert 60 ton paddy per day (tpd) into high quality rice. The project when complete will process 300 tpd and will be set up in phases.

"The rice mill is to be augmented with a storage capacity for 5000 ton of paddy in a temperature controlled storage facility, which will significantly benefit local farmers and ensure a remunerative price for their product," said Rahaman.

To protect the farmers from middlemen, the group has decided to acquire paddy directly from growers through the local mandi, he added.

The group has lined up plans for further downstream expansion, which include a food park based on rice, a captive power generation unit, a cattle and pisciculture complex and a vegetable processing product line within the next five years, informed K A Jaman, project consultant. "The total project will be costing around Rs 25 crore but that is to be done on a phased manner," said Jaman.

OBC has been aproached for a further working capital loan of around Rs 3 crore. For the captive power plant, the company will approach the central government for grants from the ministry of non-conventional energy sources. "The technology adopted will ensure a pollution free atmosphere and the proposed power plant will run on a non-conventional energy source, rice husk, which is a by-product of the mill," added Jaman.

The group might also set up extracting plant for producing rice bran oil from the bran that will be produced by the mill. "Around 5 kg of bran is produced from 1 quintal of paddy and the profit margins from the process is very high. It will be profitable if edible oil can be extracted," he added.

More than half the existing rice mills in West Bengal were closed at present owing to lack of working capital.

The state had around 450 rice mills.

West Bengal's minister for food and civil supplies, Naren De, said at the inauguration here today that the civil supplies department would look at procurement of rice from the NPG rice mill.

"The West Bengal government has decided to procure its entire requirement of rice for the public distribution system (PDS) and other schemes from state based mills and not from mills in other states as it was done in the past. The department will consider procuring a part of the requirement from NPG," he added.

The schemes run by the Bengal government required around 17 lakh ton of rice every year.