GMR agri unit buys Belgaum sugar mill

Hyderabad: GMR Industries (GIL), the agri-business division of the GMR Group, has entered into a 25-year lease agreement with Shri Dhanalaxmi Sahakari Sakkare Kharkhana Niyamit, a cooperative society of Khanapeth in Belgaum in Karnataka, to take over its sugar factory on the build- own-operate-transfer (BOOT) basis.

The factory has a capacity of 2,500 tonnes crushes per day (tcd) and the cogeneration plant is 80 per cent complete. According to the agreement, GIL will complete the remaining work, and will start crushing operations.

The capacity will be expanded from 2,500 tcd to 4,000 tcd and the cogeneration capacity will be hiked from 6 mw to 14 mw.

GIL Managing Director V Raghunathan said the takeover cost of the sugar mill involved Rs 7 crore towards lease amount and Rs 20 crore for the completion of the project.

Expansions will be implemented for four years, costing Rs 100 crore. He said the cooperative society had handed over the sugar mill as it faced financial problems.