BUSINESS EXPRESS

Southern Online Bio pact with ICRISAT.

HYDERABAD: Southern Online Bio Technologies Ltd. (SBT) has entered into an agreement with ICRISAT to extend technical support to the farmers for plantations and also started dialogue with bankers to extend financial support to farmers. The company is planning to set up a bio diesel production unit near Choutuppal, 60 km from Hyderabad, which will have a capacity of 30 tonnes a day. The project is projected to commence commercial production by April 2005. For meeting the raw material requirement, it has started encouraging farmers to go for plantation of Pongamia and Jetropha in their waste lands by providing them buy back agreements for the seed of these plants, said Satish Kumar, Managing Director, in a press release here on Thursday. - Our Special Correspondent