Ruchi Soya ties up with IndianOil for bio-fuel project
New Delhi   27-Mar-2010
Indore based Ruchi Soya Industries (RSIL) and oil major IndianOil signed a Limited Liability Partnership Agreement to form ‘Indian Oil Ruchi Biofuels LLP’. The total project cost is Rs 436.63 crore, part of which will be funded by the UP Govt. under the National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (NREGS) scheme. The equity of Rs 126.67 crore will be funded by the IndianOil & Ruchi on 50:50 basis. The boards of IndianOil and RSIL have already approved the above project. The agreement was inked by Mr. Dinesh Shahra, Managing Director, RSIL and Mr. B. M. Bansal, Chairman, IndianOil. The Government of UP had earlier approved Ruchi Biofuels Pvt. Ltd (a group company of RSIL) for inclusion in their bio-diesel value chain scheme suggesting that it should tie up with any of the oil marketing companies. IndianOil Ruchi Biofuels LLP will undertake Jatropha Plantations in 50, 000 hectors in the districts of Jhansi and Lalitpur. The LLP will also set up Oil Extraction Unit and a Transesterification Plant of 300 TPD. M/S Ernst & Young were appointed as consultants to asses this project. Uttar Pradesh has about 10 lakh hectares of waste land on which Jatropha can be planted. Jatropha being a hardy plant needs very less water and can be planted on these waste lands. The Jatropha seeds contain 30 % oil, which can be extracted and processed into Bio Diesel.