By Jaideep Sarin, IANS
Gurdaspur (Punjab) : Tucked away in one of the most backward districts of the country, a liquor distillery in Punjab is out not just to satisfy the thirst for liquor.
Instead, it is on a multi-tasking mode – making liquor, sugar, cattle feed and even generating power from the same raw material base.
The AB Grain Spirits liquor manufacturing unit owned by the Rs.22-billion Chadha group near Batala town in northwest Punjab benefits everyone – from farmers to the company and even consumers.
The company has invested Rs.3 billion into its plant here to build capacities in sugar, ethanol and power sectors and yet remain a zero-discharge and no-emission plant to obtain carbon credits.
“It will be a win-win situation for everyone, especially farmers from whom we are buying broken premium quality grain. Our unit will do several things at the same time,” AB grain spirits managing director Hardeep Singh Chadha told IANS.
Bottling of the company’s liquor products like the new ‘Master Moments’ (an Indian made foreign liquor-IMFL) and earlier ‘Patiala King’ and ‘Patiala Peg’ – the USP of which is that they are all grain-based – started from the Rs.1.25 billion distillery here in November this year and it has already achieved a capacity of 120 kilolitres per day.
The plant here is one of the biggest grain spirit units in the country.
“Grain-based whiskies are more expensive than those made from molasses. We use premium quality but broken grain for this. This includes broken rice, wheat, maize and millet (from Rajasthan),” Chadha said.
The company has already got a letter of intent to raise the bottling capacity to 360 kilolitres per day by next year, making it among the largest plants of its kind in Asia with integrated facilities.
“Having the advantage of our own grain storage, in-house milling facility and its location in the grain-rich Gurdaspur district will ensure a premium quality product. The world over, all fine whiskies, including scotch whiskies, are made from grain. The grain-based spirits are characterised by smooth, well-rounded texture and a distinct aroma,” said Chadha.
From the residue of grains, the company manufactures cattle feed for animals. A sugar factory is also located on the campus of the liquor plant. The sugar plant will have captive power generation capacity of 35 MW, much of which will be distributed among farmers and in nearby rural areas.
The distillery has its integrated power plant of 5.5 MW for captive use and also for sale of power to nearby areas.
The plant’s zero-discharge facility is eligible for carbon credits as the methane gas recovered during treatment of effluents is used for steam generation.
The Chadha group has business interests in liquor, sugar, paper, multiplexes, film production, construction and real estate businesses in Punjab, Uttar Pradesh and Delhi.