Ahmedabad, June 10 (IANS) Anticipating an export turnover of Rs.500 million by 2009-10, APL, one of India’s leading manufacturers of starch, is doubling its manufacturing capacity of modified starch to 44,000 tonnes a year. APL (Anil Products Limited) announced Tuesday it is expanding its capacity at a cost of up to Rs.120 million over the next two years. The capacity expansion will support APL’s export thrust and also help meet growing demand for modified starch in the Indian market.

Modified starch has wide applications in textiles, food, paper and pulp and chemicals industries.

“The demand for Modified Starch is growing across customer segments in India and export markets in food, paper and textiles industry. With more capacity for modified starch coming on stream, APL will be well positioned to capitalise on and monetise the emerging opportunities. Our efforts to establish our presence in the international markets for modified starches have started yielding results,” the company said.

Asked whether the capacity expansion being planned is not conservative in relation to the domestic and overseas demand the company is anticipating, Amol Sheth, APL managing director, told IANS: ” The expansion being planned now is to be achieved in a year. We will further expand the capacity once the current plan to double the capacity is achieved. While the overall demand is growing for the entire range of maize products, the expansion that is being undertaken now is only in relation to the demand for modified starch.”

Sheth said the company expected to close the current fiscal (2008-09) with export earnings of Rs.250 million — more than a four-fold increase over Rs.60 million of earnings from overseas achieved for 2007-08.

APL expects to close 2008-09 with total revenues of Rs.30 billion. It is targeting a revenue of Rs.37.5 billion in 2009-2010. Modified starch export is expected to contribute about 13.5 percent of the total earnings.

Sheth said APL’s export thrust for modified starch is aimed at the Middle East, Europe and South East Asia, especially countries which do not have indigenous manufacturers of modified starch.

“The quantity of starch consumed in food and non-food products in a country is closely associated with the level of economic development and income. As per capita incomes rise, consumers demand a more varied set of food and manufactured products that are starch based.

“South East Asia and India are witnessing rapid growth in the demand for modified starch. The fresh capacity will not only facilitate our export drive but will also cater to the rising domestic demand,” he said.

Anil Products Limited is part of the Anil group and is one of the oldest and largest Corn Wet Milling (CWM) units in India producing a complete range of starches from basic maize starch to modified and specialty starches and related down-stream products like Dextrose Monohydrate, Anhydrous Dextrose, Corn Syrup and Sorbitol.