Bannari Amman Sugars has planned a 50 per cent capacity expansion at its existing Alaganchi unit in Karnataka. Capacity is being increased from 5,000 tccpd to 7,500 tccpd.

The expansion, of which finer details are being worked out, will take the company's sugar crushing capacity to 11,500 tccpd resulting in annual sugar production  of 0.32 million tpa at the current recovery rates.

BASL has two sugar units; one at Alaganchi village in Nanjangud in Karnataka and the other at Sathyamangalam in Tamil Nadu.

The Alaganchi unit was set up in 1992 with a capacity of 2,500 tccpd that was increased to 5,000 tccpd in 2000. The Sathyamangalam unit has a capacity of 4,000 tccpd.

BASL operates its mills for an average of 280 days per season, and has had a recovery rate of over 10 per cent. Current sugar production level stands at 0.25 million tonnes per year.