ITC opens ₹ 450-crore food processing facility at Manoharabad near Hyderabad
Industries Minister K.T.Rama Rao, inaugurating the plant, urges the diversified conglomerate to enhance raw material sourcing and make the State its production hub
Diversified conglomerate ITC on Monday said it has grown its footprint in Telangana with a ₹ 450 crore integrated food manufacturing and logistics facility near Hyderabad and remains committed to invest more in the State.
A food processing plant, the new facility will make in phases biscuits, chips, noodles as well as atta that ITC markets under its popular brands, including Sunfeast and Aashirvaad. It is bound to boost the food processing sector in Telangana, it said. The total extent of the plant is nearly 59 acres. The first phase that has gone on stream has a built up area of 6.5 lakh sq ft. On completion of the next phase, the built up area will be 10 lakh sq ft.
Industries and IT Minister K.T.Rama Rao, who inaugurated the facility, said the Group has ramped up investments in recent years, which included a ₹ 2,000 crore project at its paper manufacturing facility in Bhadrachalam and setting up of the ITC Kohenur hotel in Hyderabad with around ₹ 800 crore.
The investment on the integrated food manufacturing and logistics facility, which is in Manoharabad village, Medak, near here, will be ₹ 800 crore on completion of the second phase, he added.
Highlighting Telangana government’s emphasis on increasing farmers’ income, improving farm output and bringing more area under cultivation, through a host of projects and measures, which included the world’s largest lift irrigation project Kaleshwaram that was implemented in record four years, the Minister said the State is poised to witness a green, dairy, edible oil, meat and aquaculture revolution. He urged ITC to explore growth opportunities, source more raw materials from the State and consider education and healthcare initiatives as part of CSR activities for the local community around the new factory.
“It is important to be in consonance with local ecosystem, as farmers have given land…,” he said, while also calling upon local elected representatives to extend cooperation to companies investing in the State.
Mr. Rao urged ITC to consider the prospect of reviving Ballapur Industries paper unit (AP Rayon) in Mulugu. “We will extend all cooperation,” he declared.
ITC chairman and managing director Sanjiv Puri hailed the State government’s policies and the transformation as well as the multi-dimensional development taking place in Telangana. “ITC has been strengthening its footprint in Telangana across agriculture, manufacturing and services,” he said, adding the ₹ 2,000 crore invested at the Bhadrachalam facility was for installing a new boiler technology that will reduce dependence on coal as a fuel and increase renewable energy share of the mill while enhancing the pulp mill capacity.
For ITC, the food processing unit is its first such own facility in the State as it had thus far been working with a clutch of third-party manufacturers. Speaking of its engagement with the farming community, he said ITC was committed to investing more in Telangana.
Source : The Hindu Dt: 30.01.2023
