Bajaj Hindusthan announces Rs.750 crore expansion plan

Our Economy Bureau
12 July 2005

Mumbai: Bajaj Hindusthan has announced a Rs750-crore expansion plan which would make it among the top five sugar producers globally.

The company, already the largest player in India, said on Monday that it will add three new plants in UP to take total capacity from 52,000 tonnes crushed per day (tcd) to 95,000 tcd by September this year.

Bajaj Hindusthan has also decided to withdraw its bid for the 24 mills of the Uttar Pradesh government because of the "inordinate delays" in the divestment process.

"Once the expansion is complete, we would rank among the top five producers of sugar globally. We have grown six-fold in the past five years and are targeting annual revenues in excess of $1bn over the next two years," said Kushagra Nayan Bajaj, chief executive of Bajaj Hindusthan.

Bajaj Hindusthan, which recently raised $100m through a mix of global depository receipts and foreign currency convertible bonds, would use the proceeds to part-finance the expansion plans. The company will bring in around Rs300 crore from internal accruals. Going forward, the company plans to take the inorganic route to grow capacities. On the anvil are plans to diversify into upstream and downstream businesses to maintain growth.

Bajaj Hindusthan has reported a 285 per cent rise in net profit for the third quarter ended June 30, 2005 to Rs52.9 crore, up from Rs13.8 crore a year ago. Gross sales shot up over three times from Rs106.7 crore to Rs366.9 crore.