Scotland Minister for External
Affairs and International Development Humza Yousaf today announced that Kyndal group India has entered into a joint venture with John Fergus Company Limited to set up a new malt distillery and bonded warehouse in Glenrothes, Fife.
Humza is now in India to promote business links between the two countries. He has already expressed his country's keenness to collaborate with India in three key sectors - education, innovation and energy as well as tourism and food and drinks.
"I am pleased to announce this good news while in India. This project has proved yet again that there are strong and positive economic reasons for setting up business in Scotland. It is also another reason to celebrate our strong relationship with the Indian business community and an example of why we should seek out more collaborations," Humza said.
He maintained his government is fully committed to supporting this project and look forward to watching the company's progress in Fife.
Scotland Development International (SDI) officials said this is the first time that an Indian company is part of the joint venture for setting up a greenfield project in Scotland.
The planning permission for the seven hectare (17 acres) site was approved in January 2013 and the facility is expected to be operational by 2015.
The project will focus on exporting to markets in India, Africa and the Far East. It is expected to create 15 new jobs and is likely to generate new exports worth 3.6m pounds from Scotland over the next three years, officials said and added the total cost of the project will be 6.65 million pounds.
Rooma Bussi, country manager India SDI, said the project demonstrates the growing opportunities for business and collaboration between Scotland and India. Scotland is the home of whisky and the sector has seen tremendous growth in recent years, now contributing over 4 billion pounds annually to the economy.
