Ruchi Soya and IOCL ink LLP Agreement to Produce Biofuel From Jatropha

 Indore based Ruchi Soya Industries Limited (RSIL) and oil major Indian Oil Corporation Limited (IOCL) today signed a Limited Liability Partnership Agreement to form ‘Indian Oil Ruchi Biofuels LLP’. The total Project cost is Rs 436.63 crores, part of which will be funded by the UP Govt. under the National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (NREGS) scheme. The equity of Rs 126.67 crores will be funded by the IOCL & RUCHI on 50:50 basis. The Boards of IOCL and RSIL have already approved the above project. The agreement was inked by Mr. Dinesh Shahra, Managing Director of RSIL and Mr. B.M. Bansal, Chairman of IOCL.

Commenting on the occasion Mr. Dinesh Shahra said “At Ruchi Soya we are very excited about the possibilities of biofuel and it is our proud privilege to be associated with IOC in this LLP. We strongly believe that alternate fuel sources will have to be exploited to meet the growing fuel demands of India in particular and the world at large”.

He further added that rural integration is a key business philosophy of the Ruchi group thereby keeping alive the tradition of being a farmer friendly company.

The Government of UP had earlier approved Ruchi Biofuels Pvt. Ltd (a group company of RSIL) for inclusion in their bio-diesel value chain scheme suggesting that it should tie up with any of the oil marketing companies. Indian Oil Ruchi Biofuels LLP will undertake Jatropha Plantations in 50, 000 hectors in the districts of Jhansi and Lalitpur. The LLP will also set up Oil Extraction Unit and a Transesterification Plant of 300 TPD. M/S Ernst & Young were appointed as consultants to asses this project.

Uttar Pradesh has about 10 lakh hectares of waste land on which Jatropha can be planted. Jatropha being a hardy plant needs very less water and can be planted on these waste lands. The Jatropha seeds contain 30 % oil, which can be extracted and processed into Bio Diesel.

source jatropha hq