Praj Industries unveils ‘steady’ financial results and raves about cellulosic ethanol opportunities

Indian ethanol producer Praj Industries has published steady quarterly results and has announced that it is positive about its cellulosic ethanol opportunities.

Income from operations stood at Rs 232.74 crore for quarter three 2017, compared to Rs205.79 crore the same period the year before. Profit before tax was around Rs 15.98 crore (Q2 FY17: Rs 6.28 crore, Q3 FY16: Rs 40.92 crore).

The consolidated order backlog as of 31 December, 2016, stood at Rs 1083 crore which comprised 60% domestic orders and 40% international orders, the company reported.

“Despite the challenging external environment, our performance during the quarter remained steady. Our businesses continue to make progress on the back of solid fundamentals of strong customer centricity, value engineering and innovation. We are highly excited to participate in the domestic cellulosic ethanol opportunity, which has the potential to redefine energy matrix for the country,” said Pramod Chaudhari, executive chairman at Praj Industries.

The company also reiterated its plans about a binding agreement for cost sharing with Indian Oil Corp. (IOC) to set up two bioethanol plants.

These second-generation (2G) bioethanol plants – one to be located at Panipat, Haryana, and one at Dahej, Gujarat – will have capacity to produce 100,000 litres of ethanol per day.

In a statement, the company said: “Praj’s indigenously developed 2G generation cellulosic ethanol technology achieves an important milestone with successful completion and startup of 12 million tonne per day integrated "smart biorefinery" demonstration plant in Maharashtra.

“This first of its kind plant is capable of processing multiple feedstocks and is equipped with a zero liquid discharge system.”

Elsewhere, Praj also announced that its alcohol and fuel ethanol plant in Uganda was inaugurated by the President of Uganda Yoweri Museven on 23 January, 2017. It is the country’s largest (60,000 litres per day) extra neutral alcohol and fuel ethanol plant.