Oudh Sugar Mills Ltd - Stock Valuation and Financial Performance

The Oudh Sugar Mills Limited (OSML), incorporated on July 26, 1932, belongs to the renowned K K Birla Group of companies. The K K Birla Group is a major player in key industries like fertilizers, chemicals, heavy engineering, textiles, shipping, media etc. apart from sugar.

From a modest beginning in 1932, OSML has grown to become the pioneers in the sugar industry. It is one of the largest and rapidly growing company in the sugar industry.

The first sugar mill of the company was set up at Hargaon (District Sitapur, Uttar Pradesh) with a crushing capacity of 400 tcd. It further established a distillery at Hargaon in 1945. Subsequently, the company purchased a sugar factory namely Rosa Sugar Works at Rosa (Dist. Shahjahanpur, Uttar Pradesh) in 1976 with a crushing capacity of 1000 tcd. In 1984, The New Swadeshi Sugar Mills Limited having a sugar mill, distillery at Narkatiaganj (District West Champaran Bihar), a fruit and vegetable canning factory at Allahabad and a paint factory under lease at Calcutta was merged with the company. Over the period it had expanded its capacities of sugar production, industrial alcohol/ethanol and canning products.

Through organic and inorganic modes of growth, the company has cautiously but consistently grown from a single unit sugar manufacturing company to a company having four sugar manufacturing units with an aggregate crushing capacity of about 28,700 tonnes of sugarcane per day, two distilleries producing 160 kilo litre per day (KLPD) of industrial alcohol/ethanol, three co-generation power plants with a total capacity of 60 MW, bio-compost plant producing organic fertilizer.

The different sugar mills of the company are located at:

• Hargaon Sugar Mills, Hargaon, Dist. Sitapur(U.P.) with a crushing capacity of about 10,000 tonnes of sugarcane per day.
• New Swadeshi Sugar Mills, Narkatiaganj, Dist. West Champaran (Bihar) with a crushing capacity of about 7,500 tonnes of sugarcane per day.
• Rosa Sugar Works, Rosa, Dist. Shahjahanpur, (U.P.) with a crushing capacity of about 4,200 tonnes of sugarcane per day.
• New India Sugar Mills, Hata, Dist. Kushinagar, (U.P.) with a crushing capacity of about 7,000 tonnes of sugarcane per day.

Distilleries of the company are:

• Hargaon Distillery, Hargaon, Dist. Sitapur (U.P.) with a capacity of producing 100 (KLPD) of Industrial Alcohol/Ethanol.
• New Swadeshi Distillery, Narkatiaganj, Dist. West Champaran (Bihar) with a capacity of producing 60 (KLPD) of Industrial Alcohol/Ethanol.

Co-Generation Power Plants of the company are:

• Hargaon Co-generation Power Plant, Hargaon, Dist. Sitapur (U.P.) with a capacity of 15 MW power.
• Narkatiaganj Co-generation Power Plant, Narkatiaganj, Dist. West Champaran (Bihar) with a capacity 10 MW power.
• Hata Power Plant, Dist. Kushinagar, (U.P.) with a capacity of 35 MW power.

Product manufactured by the company includes:

• Sugar: Sugar is produced at the Hargaon Sugar Mills and Rosa Sugar Works both situated in the state of Uttar Pradesh and at New Swadeshi Sugar Mills situated in the state of Bihar having crushing capacity of 7500, 4000 and 6500 tonnes of sugarcane per day respectively. The sugar factories are equipped with the state of the art technology to produce pure crystal cane sugar of the highest purity.
• Molasses : Molasses is a by product generated in the process of manufacture of sugar. It can either be sold untreated or be used as principal feedstock for manufacture of alcohol. The molasses generated in the company’s sugar factories at Hargaon and Narkatiaganj is used as raw material in its distilleries for production of Industrial Alcohol/Ethanol.
• Bagasse : Bagasse is a by product generated in the process of manufacture of sugar. It can either be sold or be captively consumed for generation of steam. The bagasse produced in the sugar factories is used for generation of steam.
• Industrial Alcohol : The company has installed distilleries at Hargaon and Narkatiaganj with a capacity to produce 11.53 million litres and 9 million litres of industrial alcohol/ethanol per annum respectively.
• Ethanol : One of the most remunerative applications of molasses is in the manufacture of ethanol, an environment friendly fuel. Being an oxygenate it contains high percentage of oxygen which helps combust fuel more completely and reduces vehicular injurious emission. The government has made blending of fuel petrol with 5% ethanol mandatory with effect from 1st October, 2003 in nine states and four union territories. To meet the increasing demand of ethanol, the company's distillery at Hargaon installed ethanol producing plant to convert rectified spirit into ethanol of a capacity of 30 klpd.
• Organic Fertilizer: Spent wash, an effluent generated from processed molasses is used with press mud for the production of organic fertilizer. The company has installed a bio compost plant at Hargaon to produce organic fertilizer which is marketed under the brand name 'Oudh Shakti Jaivik Khad'.

Canning Factory: The company has a canning factory at Bamrauli near Allahabad and markets its processed food products under the brand name “MORTON”.  

Subsidiaries:The company has four subsidiaries namely-

• Champaran Marketing Company - Incorporated on 23rd February, 1951, its main business activity consists of investment in shares and securities.
• Hargaon Investment & Trading Company - Incorporated on 26th December, 1986 to carry on business of investment company and to invest in and acquire hold and deal in shares, stocks, debentures and other securities.
• OSM Investment & Trading Company - Incorporated on 26th December, 1986 its main object is to carry on business of investment company.
• Hargaon Properities - Incorporated on 18th November, 2003. it is currently engaged in real estate business.

In 2009 - Commissioned at Hata a new and ultra modern refined sugar plant with an initial cane crushing capacity of 7000 TCD.
Enhanced cane crushing capacity to 60 KLPD with Molecular Sieve Dehydration System to produce best quality Ethanol and Rectified Spirit distillery plant at Narkatiaganj.
In 2010 - Commissioned a new Co-generation Plant at Hata with a cane crushing capacity of 20 MW
In 2012 Enhanced cane crushing capacity to 8000 TCD at Hata.