Calcutta, April 10: Riddhi Siddhi Gluco Biols Ltd will invest Rs 120 crore this fiscal to set up a greenfield maize processing plant at Pant Nagar in Uttaranchal and upgrade two existing facilities in south India.

The new plant of the starch and starch derivatives manufacturer will have a processing capacity of 1.65 lakh tonnes of maize per annum. This will increase the overall crushing capacity to 4.5 lakh tonnes.

The existing plants ? Gokak in Karnataka and Viramgam in Ahmedabad ? crushes 1.65 lakh tonnes of maize annually. Riddhi Siddhi has spent Rs 30 crore last fiscal to upgrade these two plants, which will raise the processing capacity to 2.85 lakh tonnes from 2006-07.

The capital expenditure was funded from internal accruals, through preferential allotment of equity shares and term loans. The preferential allotment was made to France-based Roquette Freres. Riddhi Siddhi has formed a long-term tie-up with the French company for technical know-how for product and process upgradation.

Riddhi Siddhi will set up its Uttaranchal plant in technical collaboration with Roquette Freres.

“Constant growth is an essential requirement of any dynamic business. We are continuously evaluating various growth opportunities. The Uttaranchal project is in line with it and this plant will cater to the northern and eastern parts of the country as well as export markets,” said Ganpatraj Chowdhary, managing director of Riddhi Siddhi. The company will also upgrade the product lines in its existing units with the help of the French company.

Riddhi Siddhi produces starch and starch derivatives such as liquid glucose, dextrose monohydrate, maltodextrin, dextrose syrup, high maltose corn syrup, corn gluten meal and fibre, which are used by pharmaceutical, paper and textile industries.

The expansion would help the company double its annual sales to Rs 500 crore by 2009-10. The project is also expected to jack up export earnings. Riddhi Siddhi has reported export earnings of Rs 7.5 crore in 2004-05, the first year when it began selling products overseas. “The company hopes that exports will account for 15 per cent of total sales by 2009-10,” Chowdhary said.