Vishwaraj Sugar Industries Limited was incorporated as a public limited company with the name of 'Vishwanath Sugars Limited' on May 02, 1995. The Company was granted the Certificate of Commencement of
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Business by the RoC, Bangalore on December 21, 1999. The name of the Company was subsequently changed to 'Vishwanath Sugar and Steel Limited' and a Fresh Certificate of Incorporation dated December 28, 2010 was issued by the Registrar of Companies, Bangalore. The name of the Company was further changed to 'Vishwaraj Sugar Industries Limited' on November 29, 2012.
The Company is an integrated sugar and other allied products manufacturing company operating from Belgaum District in the State of Karnataka which is designated as one of the 'High Recovery zones' for sugar production by Government of India. It operates a single location sugar unit having licensed crushing capacity of 11,000 TCD. In addition to sugar it also manufactures other allied products like Rectified Spirits, Extra-Neutral Spirits, Indian Made Liquor, Vinegar, Compost, Carbon dioxide (CO2), etc. and it is further engaged in the generation of Power for captive consumption as well as external sale. The Company's business can hence be broken up into five main segments namely Sugar, Co-Generation, Distillery, Indian Made Liquor (IML) and Vinegar.
In the year 2001, The Company commenced operations of manufacture of Distillery products such as Ethanol, Rectified Spirit and Extra Neutral Spirit. In the year 2006, the Company implemented backward integration and began commercial operations for Sugar manufacture from sugarcane, along with Co-Generation capabilities. During the year 2008, the company began bottling of Indian Made Liquor. Currently its integrated unit processes sugarcanes to produce sugar and the byproducts are used to generate electricity for captive use and commercial sale, manufacture rectified spirit, ENA, IML, Vinegar, Press-mud and Compost.
Production of sugar, power and distillery products requires the Company to adopt stringent Quality Assurance and Quality Control standards (QA/QC). The Company has set-up indigenous laboratories for each department which ensures that quality of raw material used in the production process and also the finished goods delivered to their customers is subject to various tests. To access and facilitate compliance with applicable requirements, the company regularly reviews its quality systems to determine its effectiveness and identify areas for improvement. This helps in improving its procurement process thus reducing wastages, returns and other related costs.
During the production of sugar; bagasse and molasses are produced which are the basic raw materials for power generation and Distillery (Spirit) manufacturing unit, respectively. The sugar unit of its integrated production facility first crushes sugarcane to extract juice and processes the juice to produce sugar. The sugar manufactured is then graded and packed based on the size of crystals and quality of the sugarcane. During the last fiscal year the company produced 98,415 tonnes of sugar. After extracting the juice from sugarcane, the residual fibre leftover called Bagasse is used as a fuel for power generation. The molasses used in the process of sugar production is fermented and distilled to manufacture various spirits (Rectified Spirit and Extra Neutral Spirit) and IML in the distillery unit of its integrated production and manufacturing facility.
Bagasse is the fibrous residual matter used as a bio-fuel to generate steam in high pressure boilers for turning turbines to generate electricity. The Company obtains enough Bagasse during the crushing seasons, such that the electricity produced is used not just for captive consumption, but also for sale. For electricity generated over and above its captive consumption, the company has entered into Power Purchase Agreements with 5 electricity distribution companies in Karnataka to supply a total of 22.4 MW.
Molasses is the viscous product resultant of refining sugarcane juice. Molasses, which forms the primary raw material for the distillery unit, is fermented, distilled and made to undergo various processes for making rectified spirit and extra neutral spirit. Rectified Spirit is processed to manufacture Industrial Vinegar. Extra- Neutral spirit is further processed for manufacture of IML products. The Extra-Neutral spirit is blended to manufacture Whiskey which is sold by the company under its various brands like VSL Deluxe Whisky, District-1 and VSL Black.
Further the waste water extracted from Distillery unit is called as spentwash which is further mixed with mud to form Compost / Organic Manure, which is supplied back to farmers for cultivation of their fields which ensures higher yields. Further the company has set up a CO2 plant also. Thus, the company believes that nothing is wasted, as every single output whether residue or by-product is utilised.
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