Balrampur Chini Wins First Institutional Order From Lucknow Cantonment
The Kolkata-headquartered company has diversified into the bioplastic business and is setting up a PLA manufacturing plant at Kumbhi in Uttar Pradesh with a total annual capacity of 80,000 tonnes (t). The plant is expected to be operational in October and Balrampur Chini anticipates scaling production to meet institutional demand. The regulatory filing on Monday stated that the vertical had secured the order from the cantonment board as part of its market entry strategy.
The Lucknow Cantonment spans 6,760 acres and is administered by a statutory board under the administrative control of the Director General of Defence Estates in the Ministry of Defence. Company executives described the order as signalling institutional trust in India’s emerging biopolymer capabilities and as evidence that sustainable materials are now viable for large-scale institutional use. The adoption of compostable PLA products across operational categories was cited as a response to concerns about single-use plastics and micro-plastic contamination, reinforcing a shift from fossil-based materials within institutional systems.
Balrampur Chini Mills is one of the largest integrated sugar companies in India with 10 sugar factories in Uttar Pradesh and an aggregate sugarcane crushing capacity of 80,000 t per day. The company also operates a distillery with capacity of 1,050 kilolitre per day and co-generation operations of 175.7 Megawatt (MW), which support its move towards circular and renewable feedstocks. The Lucknow order was described by the company as an initial institutional endorsement to be leveraged as it commercialises its PLA offerings.