Oudh Sugar chairman C.S. Nopany in Calcutta on Monday. A Telegraph picture

Calcutta, Feb. 20: The K K Birla group is planning to expand its sugar producing capacity to 5000 tonnes per day in the next 2-3 years.

The group will invest close to Rs 400 crore to increase the capacity by 5000 tonnes crushed per day (tcd), said Chandra Shekhar Nopany, chairman of Oudh Sugar, a K K Birla group firm.

Currently, the group is in the midst of an expansion whereby the capacity is being raised by 6000 tcd.

Oudh Sugar’s capacity is being increased by 3500 tcd, while that of Upper Ganges Sugar & Industries by 2500 tcd with investments of Rs 261 crore and Rs 120 crore respectively.

The boards of the two companies have already approved these plans.

Nopany said the group would set up a greenfield unit in Uttar Pradesh, which, in all likelihood, would be developed by Upper Ganges.

He also said the company is keen to acquire if sugar mills are privatised in Bihar.

“It would be over and above the 5000-tcd that we are planning,” he added.

Even though sugar mills in Bihar are very small and in a bad state, they offer captive sugarcane producing area.