Liquor manufacturer Jagatjit Industries to invest Rs 210 cr on setting up grain-based ethanol plant in Punjab

New Delhi:Jagatjit Industries Ltd, which is into liquor business, will invest Rs 210 crore to set up a grain-based ethanol manufacturing plant in Punjab to encash rising demand of this green fuel for blending with petrol, a top company official said.

Founded in 1944, Jagatjit Industries is one of the leading firms in manufacturing of Indian Made Foreign Liquor (IMFL) and country liquor in the country.

The company, which is listed on Bombay Stock Exchange, has manufacturing facilities in Kapurthala ( Punjab) and Behror (Rajasthan).

"We are setting up a greenfield grain-based ethanol manufacturing facility at Hamira, Kapurthala district in Punjab with a capacity of 200 kilo litres per day (200 KLPD). The total project cost is around Rs 210 crore," Roshini Sanah Jaiswal, Promoter and Chief Restructuring Officer of Jagatjit Industries, told PTI.

The investment will be funded through bank loans and internal accruals, she said. The company has already received environmental clearance and obtained a licence from Ministry of Forest and Environment for setting up the ethanol manufacturing facility, which will be spread across 25 acres of land. The plant is expected to be operational from June 2024.

"We will supply ethanol to oil marketing companies (OMCs)," Jaiswal said. Once operational, ethanol will contribute 20 per cent of the company's total revenues in 2024-25, rising to 25 per cent share in 2025-26.

"The government has made it very attractive for companies to set up ethanol blending plants to achieve 20 per cent blending by 2025," Jaiswal said, adding that India’s crude oil import bill would come down significantly leading to a huge saving of foreign exchange reserve.

“We expect a revenue escalation from the ethanol plant at close to Rs 400 crore with a significant EBITDA margin from year one. The increased cash flows will get ploughed back into the IMFL business," Jaiswal said.

"This year we are also aiming to reduce our debt by 50 per cent by liquidating a real estate asset," she outlined.

Jagatjit Industries makes an entire range of alcoholic beverages -- whisky, vodka, rum, gin and brandy. Its brands include Aristrocrat Premium Whiskey.

The company through its franchise has forged collaborations with bottlers across India for a wider national presence. Jagatjit Industries is into IMFL/country liquor, malted milk food and malt extract (produces Boost for HUL under a contract), distillery for producing ENA (extra neutral alcohol) for alcoholic beverages, and commercial real estate.

As per the regulatory filing on BSE, the company had posted a consolidated total income of Rs 503.92 crore and a net profit of Rs 0.48 crore in 2021-22 financial year.

During the first nine months of 2022-23 fiscal year, the company's consolidated revenue grew to Rs 457.23 crore from Rs 356.16 crore in the corresponding period of the previous year. It posted a profit of Rs 72 lakh in April-December last fiscal as against a net loss of Rs 7.70 crore in the year-ago period.