UP hand sanitiser output tops 18 million litres

Virendra Singh Rawat

Lucknow / Dec 27, 2020

The pandemic induced hand sanitiser industry in Uttar Pradesh continues to flourish, logging more than 18 million litres (ML) in production so far and counting.

Currently, there are 97 hand sanitiser units, including sugar mills, distilleries and standalone manufacturers, with combined production capacity of 630,000 litres per day. The state had shipped sanitiser consignments to nearly all the Indian states during the lockdown periods and beyond, he informed.

The states of Delhi, Maharashtra, Rajasthan, West Bengal, Haryana and Uttarakhand accounted for the highest shipments of hand sanitiser from UP. The product was supplied to even remote and faraway places viz. Ladakh, Nagaland, Kerala etc.

Since, UP is the country’s top sugarcane and sugar producer, it has an abundance of ethanol/alcohol, which are essentially sugar byproducts. This allowed the state mills and distilleries to speedily establish downstream and captive hand sanitiser facilities within their complexes after taking the necessary approvals from the government.

Besides, the state had also liberalised the licensing for augmenting the production in the initial months of the pandemic, when the demand for the medical product had risen sharply to control the spread of the disease, while there was an acute shortage in the market.

While, some mills are manufacturing bulk quantities of sanitiser themselves or supplying to other firms for bottling and marketing, a few others have signed contracts to supply ethanol/ethyl alcohol/extra neutral alcohol (ENA) to external plants.

Although, sanitiser is generally manufactured with isopropyl alcohol (IPA), it has been found effective if made from ethanol/ethyl alcohol/ENA.

Meanwhile, Rana claimed 119 sugar mills in UP had paid more than Rs 1.12 trillion to the cane farmers during the three and half years of the incumbent Yogi Adityanath government.

The payment of Rs 1.12 trillion is Rs 17,614 crore more than the total sugarcane payment to the state farmers during the entire five years (2012-17) rule of the previous Akhilesh Yadav government.

Private investments totalling Rs 273 crore were made in setting up of khandsari units (unrefined sugar units) in the rural areas, which generated fresh job opportunities for 50,000 youth.