Bengaluru, June 10 (IANS) : Cooking oil company Ruchi Soya on Friday announced plans to set up multiple facilities across Dakshina Kannada district in food and agri-business sectors after receiving clearance from the Karnataka government.

Aiming to employ 17,000 people, the facilities will include palm fruit and kernel processing units producing edible oil, palm kernel cake, palm kernel oil and solar power.

"The company will establish a complete and integrated value chain which will not only benefit the farmers but also agricultural workers," said a company statement.

"This proposed new integrated platform is expected to have significant value for both the Indian farmer, in terms of efficient handling of produce and sales realisation, as well as for the Indian consumer, who will stand to gain from an increased range of high quality finished products," said the statement, citing Managing Director Dinesh Shahra.

However, the investment value was not divulged.

Plans to set up the new facilities were part of the agreement the company signed with the Karnataka government in November 2015.

Other plans include setting up a nursery to produce high yielding varieties of plant species and generating awareness about oil palm cultivation.

Ruchi Soya has procurement rights in nearly 2,00,000 hectares, 4,000 of which are in Karnataka.