Sugar Mills Have Rs 5,000cr Arrears

New Delhi: Sugar mills in the country owe cane growers almost Rs 5,000 crore in payment arrears, according to the Union Minister of State for Consumer Affairs, Food and Public Distribution, Dr Akhilesh Prasad Singh. As on June 15, total cane price debt, based on provisional data, amounted to Rs 4,746 crore. Of the total outstanding amount, mills in Uttar Pradesh owed Rs 2,637.15 crore, followed by Maharashtra (Rs 568 crore), Karnataka (Rs 510.55 crore), Tamil Nadu (Rs 240.83 crore), Bihar (Rs 197.34 crore), Andhra Pradesh (Rs 188.91 crore), Uttaranchal (Rs 146.43 crore), Haryana (Rs 127.40 crore), Gujarat (Rs 71.53 crore) and Punjab (Rs 37.69 crore).