The company in an exchange filing said, “The Central Government is encouraging mixing of ethanol with fuel as the same is eco-friendly & saves foreign exchange for the country. Keeping in view the Government's policy and increased demand of ethanol at National level, the company has decided to increase/enhance the distillery capacity (ethanol) at its Barkatpur plant.

Further, the board has also approved increase in the cane crushing capacity from 23750 tons of cane per day (TCD) to 26200 TCD of the company and improvement in energy efficiency.

The capacity enchancement will require an investment of Rs 40 crore and is expected to be completed by November 2023. The project cost will be financed through internal accruals /loans.

The company further added, “Keeping in view the increased yield and sugar content in the cane as a result of intensive ‘Cane Development Programme' undertaken by the company, it has decided to install the balancing equipments to take care of additional cane availability and higher sucrose content in cane.”

Uttam Sugar Mills is engaged in production of sugar, ethanol and generation of power. The company operates in three business segments: sugar, cogeneration and distillery.

The company reported a net loss of Rs 10.04 crore as against a loss of Rs 0.44 crore in Q2 FY23 over Q2 FY22. Net sales slipped 4.6% to Rs 454.53 crore in Q2 FY23.