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Emami Biotech Ltd, part of the Rs 3,700-crore conglomerate Emami, has chalked a Rs 550-crore capex to expand its edible oil refinery capacity in the next two years. Of this, the company has already invested close to Rs 300 crore in setting up a 1,200-tonne-a-day new refinery at Krishnapatnam in Andhra Pradesh and an additional line in its existing refinery unit at Haldia in West Bengal, which will double the unit's existing capacity to 2,000 tonnes a day.
Both these facilities will start commercial production in the next two months. With these two projects going on stream, the company's total refinery capacity will increase to 3,200 tonnes a day from the current 1,000 tonnes. “In addition, we are planning to set up another unit either in Maharashtra or Gujarat,” Mr Manish Goenka, Director, Emami Group of Companies, told Business Line . According to him, the proposed refinery will have a capacity to produce 1,500 tonnes a day, and would involve an investment of Rs 250 crore. Emami is a business group with diversified business interests - including newsprint, bio-diesel, realty, ball pen tips' manufacturing, retail, personal care products and OTC pharma products. Emami Biotech is producing soya, mustard, rice bran, palm and sunflower oil.
At present, the edible oil business contributes a little over 40 per cent (at Rs 1,500 crore) to the group's overall turnover (of Rs 3,700 crore). “Our intention is to take the edible oil division to a Rs 5,000-crore business unit of the group in the next three years, and we want to be the top brand in the next five years,” says Mr Goenka. The Indian edible oil market is estimated at Rs 70,000 crore. Ruchi Soya is the market leader followed by Adani Wilmar.
Brand ambassador
In another development the company has roped in Tamil film star Suriya to endorse its edible oil brand ‘Healthy and Tasty' in the Tamil Nadu market. The company has come out with a TV commercial featuring Suriya. The communication created and directed by White Light Moving Picture revolves around the concept of ‘Surya Prasadam' meaning ‘Nectar of the Sun' which “reinforces the brand promise of healthy and tasty,” elaborates Mr Goenka.
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