Ahmedabad, May 20 (IANS) The Ahmedabad-based Riddhi Siddhi Gluco Biols Ltd, the country’s largest starch manufacturer, announced Tuesday that its maize grinding project at Uttarakhand has commenced production. The plant, located in Pantnagar district, has a crushing capacity of 165,000 tonnes a year and has been set up at a cost of Rs.1,200 million. Maize powder has applications in pharmaceuticals, paper, textile and food industries.

There was a delay of nine months in the execution of the project.

With the commencement of the new plant, the company’s maize grinding capacity now totals half a million tonne, Riddhi Siddhi Gluco Biols director S. Satyamurthi told IANS.

A large number of multinationals and Indian companies like Britannia, Nestle, Parle and Dabur have set up manufacturing facilities at Uttarakhand to avail of tax benefits offered by the state government.

For the products manufactured by these units, maize powder is a key ingredient and the availability of input locally will further accrue cost benefits, Satyamurthi said.

The company set up its first corn milling plant at Junapaddar village, about 50 km from Ahmedabad, and then expanded capacity through acquisition of two units in Karnataka and Tamil Nadu and followed it up with their upgradations.

The company now expects an annual sales Rs.5 billion by 2009-10, double of the current level of sales worth Rs.2.5 billion.