Tata Chemical ties up with JOil, to invest S$ 25 m

Mumbai, Nov 25 (UNI) Tata Chemicals Limited's wholly owned subsidiary Tata Chemicals Asia Pacific Pte Ltd. has entered into definitive agreements to invest Singapore dollar 25 million in JOil Pte Ltd, a Jatropha Seedling Company based in Singapore.

Joil has been set up by the Temasek Life Sciences Laboratory Ltd. (TLL), along with other investors in Singapore.

Speaking on the development, Mr. Homi Khusrokhan, Managing Director, Tata Chemicals Limited said in a release here, ''Jatropha has been identified as an ideal starting material for biodiesel production for countries like India, because it can be grown on wasteland. However, the non-availability of good quality planting material has resulted in highly variable yields from the cultivation carried out so far. Through this JV, we would like to access some of the excellent work done by Temasek Lifesciences Laboratory on this plant and make the superior varieties of Jatropha available to those interested in its cultivation. It also holds great promise for our own biofuels promgramme." Mr. Peter Chia, Chief Operating Officer of TLL, and Director of JOil (S) Pte Ltd, said the partnership will create sustainable and competitive technological solutions for the biofuel industry.

By virtue of this agreement, Tata Chemicals will get exclusive marketing rights for JOil's Jatropha seedlings in India and East Africa and a preferential price for seedlings it requires for its own cultivation of Jatropha.

JOil will set up tissue culture labs in various locations, and market Jatropha seedlings produced by using the micro-propagation technology developed by TLL. TLL has done a considerable amount of original work on developing superior elite varieties of Jatropha, which becomes productive sooner than other known varieties and gives improved and more consistent yields.

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