IKF Technologies is raising Rs 400 crore through global depository receipts (GDRs) to fund its biofuel business besides setting up biodiesel refineries in Gujarat and Meghalaya. The BSE-listed firm is planning to invest Rs 1,200 crore in the bio-fuel business by 2013.
“We have received a clearance from Sebi to raise the money through issue of global depository receipts,” IKF Green Fuel president Vishal Rawat said. The company is having interests in information technology, telecom and alternative energy sectors. IKF Green Fuel, a wholly-owned subsidiary of IKF Technologies, is also in the process of acquiring a company in Rajasthan which has more than 10,000 hectares of land under Jatropha plantation, he said.
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Biodiesel is a variant of the regular petroleum based diesel where the fuel is doped with a vegetable oil like oil extracted from jathropa. The government is likely to introduce a biodiesel policy soon. For plantation of the biodiesel crop, IKF Green Fuel has adopted three business models—-plantation on government-leased land, company owned land and contract farming. “We plan to cover close to 5 lakh hectares of wasteland under Jatropha cultivation by 2013 and expect to generate atleast Rs 3,000 crore annually from it. The area will be covered under all the three business models,” Mr Rawat said.
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While the company has already set up a biodiesel refinery with a capacity of 3,000 litre per day at Udaipur in Rajasthan, it has recently signed pre-agreement deals with government of Gujarat and Meghalaya to install commercial refineries.
