The Hindu : $15 m IFC loan for Balrampur Chini

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Saturday, Jun 14, 2003

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Business

$15 m IFC loan for Balrampur Chini

By Our Special Correspondent

NEW DELHI JUNE 13. The International Finance Corporation (IFC), the private sector arm of the World Bank, has signed an agreement to provide a rupee loan equivalent to $15 million to Balrampur Chini Mills Limited.

The loan will partially finance an integrated greenfield sugar mill with a capacity of 4,000 tonnes of cane a day, an associated 20 MW cogeneration power plant in Haidergarh in Uttar Pradesh and a 60 kilolitre a day ethanol distillery with a biomass fertilizer unit at the company's existing Babhnan plant in U.P.

According to an IFC release, the new plant is expected to process sugarcane from about 40,000 farms in the area, helping increase farm incomes as sugarcane is a profitable crop. By producing ethanol, the company is supporting the government's policy of reducing the environmental impact of relying on fossil fuel. Ethanol and gasoline will be blended to generate electricity by using bagasse, a byproduct of milling process. The company is also in discussion with IFC-Netherlands Carbon facility to sell greenhouse gas emission reduction credits that would result from producing bagasse-based electricity at its Haidergarh plant which would replace electricity generated by burning fossil fuels.

The Managing Director of Balrampur Chini Mills, Vivek Saraogi, said he was pleased with IFC's quick response and its support for our outreach programme to thousands of farmers in U.P. According to IFC's director for South Asia, Dimitris Tsitsiragos, the project is an example of IFC's commitment to support Indian companies that are modernising to become efficient and environment- friendly.

IFC finances private sector investments in developing countries, mobilises capital in international financial markets, helps clients improve social and environmental sustainability and provides technical assistance and advice to governments and businesses. IFC's worldwide committed portfolio for 2002 was $15.1 billion for its own account and $6.5 billion held for participants in loan syndications.

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