URL Expansion

completed

United Riceland Limited (URL or the company) is one of India’s leading rice millers and exporters specializing in the premium segment of Basmati rice. URL was established in 1981 at Samana in the state of Haryana, 150 km north of New Delhi by the Thakrar family to export brown Basmati rice to the United Kingdom (U.K.). The company currently sells its products to the European Union (EU), the Middle East and is also active in the domestic market. IFC entered into a $10 million Loan Agreement with URL in 1996. The purpose of the loan was to finance the construction of a modern Basmati rice milling facility on a new site located 25km southwest of New Delhi, in Gurgaon. Since then actual market developments as well as a positive turn in tariffs for Basmati rice has resulted in URL’s decision to increase the project’s scope. The company plans to increase aggregate capacity from 21 tons per hour to an aggregate nominal capacity of 30 tons per hour with a plant design to produce brown and white rice for sales to the EU, the Middle East, other countries and the domestic markets.