Patna, Dec 22: Auro Sundram International Pvt Ltd will invest around Rs 250 crore to set up a starch manufacturing plant in the Araria district of Bihar, its Director Ashok Kumar Choudhary said.
He made the announcement at a global investors summit Bihar Business Connect 2024 held here on December 19-20. In an interview with PTI, Choudhary said the company already has a maize processing plant at Forbesganj in Araria district.
“We have invested Rs 100 crore to set up this plant, which is operational from last year,” he said.
From this plant, Choudhary said the company supplies maize grits to FMCG companies and also floating fish feeds to fish farmers. “We are now planning to set up a starch manufacturing plant on the same location with an investment of around Rs 250 crore,” he said.
The annual capacity will be 500 tonnes per day, and the plant will be operational by March 2027.
“We will be supplying starch to various industries, including pharma companies.”
About the source of funding, Choudhary said the investment will be financed through equity and debt.
He noted that Maize is one of the major crops in North Bihar with production of around 50 lakh tonnes per year.
“There are a lot of business opportunities in the food processing sector in North Bihar,” Choudhary said.
He said the Bihar government is providing fiscal and other incentives to set up industries.
Choudhary said the company is targeting an annual revenue of around Rs 125 crore in the current fiscal year.
In the second edition of the Bihar Business Connect summit, the Bihar government attracted an investment of nearly Rs 1.81 lakh crore, which is more than three times of Rs 50,300 crore in the first edition held last year.
As many as 423 companies committed to invest Rs 1,80,899 crore across various sectors in Bihar.
The maximum investment proposals came in the renewable energy sector worth Rs 90,734 crore in 17 units. As many as 57 MoUs were signed in general manufacturing, promising Rs 55,888 crore investments, followed by the food processing sector, which saw 70 MoUs with commitment of Rs 13,663 crore. (PTI)