Haldia, July 26 (IANS): Emami Agrotech, a part of the Emami Group, will invest Rs 300 crore for expansion of its edible oil refining capacity by 1,000 tonnes per day (tpd) at its Haldia plant in West Bengal, a top company official said on Tuesday.

"With the expansion of the Haldia unit at an investment of Rs 300 crore, the capacity of the plant will increase by another 1,000 tpd, taking up its total capacity to 4,000 tpd," said group's Director Aditya Vardhan Agarwal.

He explained, "Our present manufacturing capacity in edible oils is around 4,000 tpd between our two plants at Haldia and Krishnapatnam (in Andhra Pradesh). The Krishnapatnam unit has a production capacity of 1,000 tpd, while Haldia unit produces around 3,000 tpd." 

West Bengal Transport Minister and Haldia Development Authority Chairman Suvendu Adhikari laid the foundation stone of the expansion work on Tuesday.

The minister said around Rs 10,000 crore investment has come to Haldia in the last one year after the moratorium on environment clearance for new industries was lifted by the Centre in 2013.

Agarwal said the expansion is expected to be completed by end of this year and this will make our Haldia facility the largest single location edible oil refinery in India.

The expansion will also include setting up of a 7.5 megawatt captive power plant. 

The company has invested Rs 700 crore in the plant already, and with the Rs 300 crore, total investment in the plant will be Rs 1000 crore.

The company will come up with two new plants near Kandla port in Gujarat and Karnataka in a little over a year, a company statement said.

The investment in the plant near Kandla port will be around Rs 300-350 crore, Agarwal added.

According to the company, one mustard plant is also in the offing in Rajasthan.

"We aspire to become the number two edible oil manufacturer in the country and increase our market share in the Indian edible oil industry from the present 5.5 per cent to 10-11 per cent by 2018," said the group's Director, Manish Goenka.