Indo Rama group plans to foray into power sector

Nagpur, May 5: The Indo Rama group, one of the leading manufacturers of man-made fibres in the country, plans to diversify into the power sector.

Speaking to newspersons here today, Indo Rama Synthetics Limited (IRSL) chairman-cum-managing director O P Lohia said that power was one of the emerging sectors in the country which offers plenty of opportunities. The group was considering diversifying into power by setting up a stand-alone thermal power plant, he said.

The group was also looking for coal linkages for the plant, he said, adding that the plant could be set up anywhere in the country, including in Vidarbha region of Maharashtra. ''We would be happy to do that,'' he said while pointing out they already had a polyester manufacturing plant at Butibori, about 20 kilometers from here.

''Things are only at the conceptual stage at present, and a lot would depend on the viability of the project and the clarity of the central government's policy on power,'' Mr Lohia said.

The Company already has some experience in power generation as it was operating a 83 MW captive power plant at its Butibori factory and had recently commissioned a 60 MW captive power plant at its factory in Indonesia, Mr Lohia pointed out. ''We have the experience for getting into stand-alone power generation. In fact, we are looking at the energy sector as a whole, including conventional and non-conventional energy, for a possible diversification,'' he said.

Incidentally, IRSL has started selling 22 MW of surplus electricity from its captive power plant at Butibori to Tata Power through the state grid. The power is being sold at the rate of Rs 6 per unit, Mr Lohia said. IRSL plans to augment the capacity of the Butibori captive power plant to 100 MW within 15 months, which would give it a surplus of 40 MW, he said.

Replying to questions, Mr Lohia said the Indo Rama group would fulfill its social responsibility by contributing to the effort to uplift the lot of farmers in Vidarbha. ''We have not yet decided how to get involved in the effort,'' he said. The group would make a presentation to Maharashtra Chief Minister Vilasrao Deshmukh in Mumbai within a fortnight, he said, adding that any project ought to be supported by the Government of India and the Government of Maharashtra.

Meanwhile, the second phase of the polyester manufacturing plant of IRSL at Butibori was inaugurated at the hands of Mr Deshmukh today. With the expansion, the manufacturing capacity of the Butibori plant has increased from 3 lakh tonnes per annum (tpa) to 6 lakh tpa. The Butibori plant is an integrated manufacturing complex, producing Polyester Staple Fibre (PSF), Partially Oriented Yarn (POY), Fully Drawn Yarn (FDY) and Draw Textured Yarn (DTY) besides fibre grade chips.

UNI