Bunge India Pvt. Ltd., the owner of well-known edible oil brand Dalda, is planning to acquire a 500-metric-tonnes-a-day facility to expand in Bengal to meet soaring demand in the eastern region.

The potential acquisition is part of the company's plan to invest Rs 700-800 crore to increase its production capacity by 1,500 metric tonnes per day within a year.

Dinesh Agrawal, business head at Dalda, said, "We have a plan to expand in the east and it has to be in Bengal. We are looking to have a facility with a 500 metric tonnes per day capacity which will have scaleability."

Explaining why the company wanted to acquire a plant in Bengal, Agrawal said this state has its unique advantages due to its Haldia port. He, however, added that plans to acquire the facility in Bengal were in an early stage.

Bunge India is a subsidiary of U. S.-based agri-business giant Bunge Ltd. Currently, it has plants at Trichy, Tamil Nadu; Kandla, Gujarat; Bundi, Rajasthan; and Rajpura, Punjab. All these plants have a combined capacity of around 2,000 metric tonnes per day.

Bunge India also announced its plans to resurrect the Lotus brand of palm oil, nearly a decade after it acquired it along with Dalda from Hindustan Unilever Ltd.