Vishwaraj Sugar Industries is an integrated sugarcane processor that turns a single crop into sugar, ethanol, electricity, and vinegar - all from one factory complex in Belagavi, Karnataka. The company started in 2001 as a distillery, backward-integrated into sugar and power in 2006, and has since pivoted twice: first away from bottling liquor to focus on fuel-grade ethanol for oil companies, and then into a proprietary, patented process that produces pharmaceutical-grade sugar and ethanol without a separate refinery. The recurring approach is to escape commoditised, crowded markets by using in-house R&D to climb the quality ladder - targeting products that command a 10% to 20% better price - while wringing every usable joule and molecule from the cane so that nothing is wasted.
Business segments
Four engines run on a single cane-crushing core - sugar and ethanol are the twin pillars, power generation feeds off their waste, and a small vinegar unit ferments the distillery's alcohol - each one built on the by-products of the one before.
1. Sugar: the foundation that feeds everything else
The sugar mill crushes cane to produce graded crystal sugar, but its real competitive edge is a patented process that makes pharmaceutical-grade sugar directly from cane juice - no separate refinery needed.
- Pharma-grade without a refinery - the company re-engineered its process to produce bacteria-and-pathogen-free sugar that meets IP, BP, and USP pharmacopoeia standards, certified by a NABL-accredited lab in 2021. This avoided an estimated Rs. 80-90 crore in refinery capital investment.
- Lowest steam appetite in the industry - the boiling house consumes less than 28% steam per tonne of cane crushed, among the lowest in the country, so more bagasse is left over to burn for power.
- Sold to brands, not just commodity markets - major biscuit, confectionery, and beverage makers - PepsiCo, Parle, Britannia - have been customers, and the company has applied for FSSC 22000 V5.1 food-safety certification, which has been approved and uploaded on the FSSC website.
- Regulated floor, but quality ceiling - the government sets a Minimum Selling Price for sugar (Rs. 31/kg since February 2019), so the route to better realisation is moving up from industrial-grade to pharma-grade, where the sugar becomes an excipient in drugs, nutraceuticals, and personal-care products.
2. Distillery and ethanol: the high-value pivot
Ethanol is where the company chose to place its growth capital - a tripled distillery capacity that can run on multiple feedstocks year-round, producing fuel-grade and pharma-grade ethanol at fermentation efficiencies well above industry norms.
- More litres from every tonne of cane - proprietary syrup-preservation technology yields about 83 litres of ethanol per tonne of sugarcane crushed, against an industry standard of 70-73 litres, with fermentation efficiency of 95-97% versus a typical maximum of 91% - achieved without added yeast or special enzymes.
- Multi-feed, multi-season - the expanded 250 KLPD distillery (up from 100 KLPD, to commence from November 2025) can switch between sugarcane syrup, molasses, and food grains, so it is not idle outside the 4-7 month crushing season.
- Three price tiers, one molecule - ethanol from cane syrup or juice sells to oil marketing companies at Rs. 62.65 per litre; from molasses at Rs. 57; and pharma-grade ethanol (99.9% purity, GMP-grade) at up to Rs. 67 per litre for use in injectables, APIs, antiseptics, and blood-plasma fractioning.
- Government-backed offtake and funding - ethanol is sold under long-term contracts with OMCs through the Ethanol Blending Programme, and the capacity expansion received in-principle interest-subvention approval on a Rs. 100 crore loan, plus environmental clearance for expanding distillery capacity.
3. Co-generation and power: the waste-to-wire engine
Bagasse - the fibrous residue after crushing - is burned in high-pressure boilers to generate steam and electricity, with surplus power exported to the state grid for roughly Rs. 5 per unit.
- 100 extra days of power - because the sugar mill's steam consumption is so low, enough bagasse is saved to run the 36.4 MW turbine generators for about 100 days after the crushing season ends.
- Pelletised for fuel-switching - a bagasse pelletizing machine commissioned on June 20, 2023 compresses loose bagasse into dense pellets; a portion of these pellets shall be used in the distillery as a fuel replacing imported coal, and the Company shall be using only green fuel and no fossil fuel shall be used; surplus pellets are sold externally.
- Sold under a state PPA - a Power Purchase Agreement with five Karnataka electricity supply companies covers 22.4 MW of supply, with the option to sell additional power to other industrial buyers on demand.
4. Vinegar: the small-batch fermentation tail
A fully automatic plant ferments distillery alcohol into natural vinegar, sold business-to-business as a preservative for fruit and vegetable exporters and as an ingredient for ketchup makers.
- 70,000 litres a day, one clear use-case - the vinegar unit is a compact, automated operation that converts rectified spirit into industrial vinegar, primarily serving the export-preservation and food-processing supply chains.
Group structure and partners
Vishwaraj Sugar is a standalone, promoter-led public company with no subsidiaries or joint ventures - it is a single integrated complex run by the Katti family and a small circle of technical and operational directors.
- No corporate layers - the company has no subsidiaries, associates, or joint ventures; it is a single listed entity on BSE and NSE with an equity base of 18.778 crore shares of Rs. 2 each.
- Promoter-operated - the Katti family holds key board and management roles: Nikhil Katti is Managing Director, Kush Katti and Sneha Nitin Dev are Whole-Time Directors, Lava Katti is COO, and Shruti Katti is CAO.
- R&D anchored by an independent director - Mr. Vishnukumar Kulkarni, a microbiologist with 29 patents who runs a biotech consultancy for the sugar industry, mentors the company's in-house R&D efforts that produced the pharma-grade process patents.
- A second factory on the drawing board - the company has secured a distance certificate and acquired 22 acres at Navage village in Belagavi for a proposed 5,000 TCD greenfield sugar plant, and in late 2024 it also bid to lease a 9,750 TCD integrated sugar-power-distillery complex from a cooperative society on a Lease-Operate-Transfer basis.