HPL likely to invest Rs 8.5k cr for polycarbonate production in Bengal
Times of India | 17 March 2025
12 Kolkata: Haldia Petrochemicals is likely to invest over Rs 8,500 crore for polycarbonate production in Bengal. This petrochemical compound, not in production in India, would be an import substitute. Polycarbonate is mainly used in the automotive industry which continues to grow in the country.
While not divulging the details of the investment, Haldia Petrochemicals Ltd WTD and CEO Navanit Narayan told TOI recently that polycarbonate was the logical conclusion and forward integration of phenol production which the company had already undertaken, following a licence agreement with Lummus Technology. Industry experts opined that a polycarbonate production project would need investment of at least a billion dollars or Rs 8,500 crore.
For the polycarbonate project, HPL is likely to join hands with a partner with the technological know-how, Narayan indicated. "However, very few companies have the technology for this," he added. "Since all polycarbonate in India is imported and considering the demand in the country, there is room for at least two big players. The idea is to add more value to our production line," Narayan said. The CEO also indicated that there was additional land available in Haldia to implement the project.
Commenting on HPL's phenol projects, Narayan said that the new line would be ready by mid-2027. He also pointed out that the plywood industry — which has big presence in eastern India — was a big consumption sector for phenol.
Last year, HPL had announced its plans for phenol production at Haldia. The company had signed a licence agreement with Lummus Technology for the phenol and acetone plant. The agreement was signed by Narayan and Romain Lemoine, chief business officer of polymers and petrochemicals, Lummus Technology. The initial estimated investment was Rs 3,000 crore. It was later scaled up to Rs 5,000 crore.
"The proposed investment of Rs 3,000 crore was an early estimate of the hard cost before the detailed engineering of the project and didn't include GST, start-up costs, etc. The phenol project has also been integrated with the Olefin Conversion Unit (OCU) to ensure uninterrupted feedstock supply to the phenol unit. The revised project cost also includes utility and infrastructure augmentation, including pipelines needed for the OCU and phenol unit," a company source said.
HPL is one of the largest petrochemical companies in India with a total capacity equivalent to 7,00,000 TPA (tonne per annum) of ethylene.