June 19, Colombo (LNW): Sri Lanka’s cricketing legend Muttiah Muralitharan on Tuesday met Indian Industries Minister MB Patil and discussed his plans to increase investments in his soft drink manufacturing unit at Badanaguppe industrial area in Chamarajanagar.
Muralitharan, who runs a soft drink business in Sri Lanka , is expanding his venture with a greenfield unit in Chamarajanagar district at an investment of Rs 1000 crore, said an official statement from the industries department.
The former cricket star, the statement added, also told the minister that he remained committed his project in Dharwad to manufacture beverage cans.
The cricketer turned businessman now wanted to scale up his investments at the Chamarajanagar unit to Rs 1400 crore, the statement said. Tuesday’s meeting focused on coordination with Industries department officials to speed up the project.
S Selva Kumar, Principal Secretary, Industries and Industries Commissioner Gunjan Krishna were present at the meeting.
Sri Lankan beverages company Ceylon Beverage Can Pvt Ltd, headed by Muttiah Muralitharan, has already set up a full-fledged plant in Mummigatti off Dharwad in Karnataka, official sources said.
The company had earlier sent a proposal to the state government for setting up an “aluminium cans and beverages filling plant” in the area. It had asked for 26 acres of land with an investment of Rs 440 crore. It is expected to generate jobs for 500 people.
The Sri Lankan company currently manufactures eight different sizes of slim, sleek and standard cans with a range of customer labels. It is setting up a plant in India owing to huge demand from this region
Heavy and Medium Industries Minister MB Patil said that famous Sri Lankan cricketer Muttiah Muralitharan is starting a soft drink and sweets business in Badanaguppe of Chamarajanagar district and will gradually invest a total of Rs 1,400 crore.
The minister held talks in this regard with Muttiah, who met him here on Tuesday. Speaking later, the Minister said that Muralidharan was starting his business in Badanaguppe under the brand name ‘Muttiah Beverages and Confectioneries’ and initially a plan was made for an investment of 230 crore rupees.
Then it is now touching thousand crores. He explained that Muttiah told him that it would be Rs 1,400 crore in the next few days.
For this they have already been given 46 acres of land. There were some minor complications with this. The authorities concerned have been instructed to rectify them immediately.
He said that the production activity will start in Badanaguppe in coming January. The minister said that in the coming days, Muttiah will set up a unit of his business in Dharwad as well.
