Godrej to set up edible oil processing plant in Telangana

Hyderabad, Jan 5: Godrej Agrovet Ltd, the largest oil palm plantation company in India, will set up a state of the art edible oil processing plant in Telangana with an investment of Rs 250 crore, it was announced on Thursday.

The proposed 30 tonnes per hour (TPH) plant is expandable to 60 TPH. The plant will be located in Khammam district and this would be the single largest private investment in Khammam district. This facility will process palm oil.

Godrej Agrovet Ltd Managing Director Balram Singh Yadav met Telangana Industries Minister K. T. Rama Rao in Hyderabad and informed him about the investment plans.

He assured the minister that this is one of the many initiatives under consideration across various business verticals.

Godrej Agrovet plans to operate at full scale by 2025-26 in the proposed facility. The factory will be self-sufficient in power requirement with a co-generation plant. Palm oil farmers will be serviced through 10 Godrej Samadhan centres and their extension team.

Currently, Godrej is present across 10 mandals in Telangana in Khammam and Bhadradri Kothagudem districts. To enhance productivity, it will deploy digital assets including satellite/drone tracking of area under cultivation, image-based crop advisory services, farmer apps, sapling portal etc. in the region.

Godrej Agrovet Oil Palm business at Khammam and Kothagudem district, including the processing facility, will lead to employment generation of 250 members (direct employment) and 500 members (indirect employment).

Telangana has set an ambitious goal of expanding palm oil plantation to 20 lakh acres in the state. The state government is aggressively promoting palm oil plantations to reduce dependence on imported oil.

Over the past few years, the state government's aggressive push has resulted in a yellow revolution (increase in oil Seeds production) in Telangana, say officials.