IKF Green Fuels Ltd plans to set up two new bio-fuel refineries in India

IKF Green Fuels to set up two refineries.

Kolkata, June 17 ::: IKF Green Fuels Ltd, the 100 per cent subsidiary of the city headquartered IKF Technologies Ltd, plans to set up two new bio-fuel refineries in West Bengal and Gujarat by December at an investment of Rs 50 crore, according to the Chief Executive Officer, IKF Technology, Mr Mukesh Goyal. The new facilities would help scale up its annual production from 9,750 tonnes now to about one lakh tonnes by March 2011, he said. The investments would be funded from the money raised last year through Global Depository Receipts, he added.
“We are in talks with the respective State Governments for land near major ports as we are evaluating possibilities of importing palm oil from Malaysia as an alternative to jatropha,” Mr Goyal said.IKF has 10,000 hectares under jatropha cultivation in contract farming model in Rajasthan, Gujarat, Meghalaya, Maharashtra, Karnataka and Madhya Pradesh. The area of cultivation would be scaled up to one lakh hectares soon to cater to the requirements at the new facilities, he said.
The company has an agreement with Indian Oil Corporation for technology transfer and supply of bio-fuel. Nearly 10 per cent of the IKF's turnover now comes from the bio-fuel segment.IKF Technology is eyeing acquisition of a US-based 50- to 100-seater BPO by March 2011, Mr Goyal said. “We are looking at shelling out up to $5 million for the acquisition and are evaluating about 20 proposals,” he said. The company now has overseas subsidiaries in Frankfurt, Dubai and South Africa. The IKF Group plans to recruit 4,000 people in 2010-11, up from its present workforce of 2,000, Mr Goyal said. It is also planning to enter e-education business in the rural regions soon, he added.
Manish Basu..the HINDU BUSINESS LINE newspaper