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The Rs 1,100 crore Kolkata-based Himadri Chemicals and Industries Ltd is likely to bring on stream the first phase of its coal-tar distillation plant at Odisha by March 2014.
According to Anurag Choudhary, Chief Executive Officer of the company, the greenfield project at Odisha will entail an investment of Rs 525 crore.
The project will have an annual capacity of 300,000 tonnes. Nearly 80 acres of land have already been identified by the company.
Coal-tar pitch, a residue available from coke-oven batteries in steel plants, is the key raw material used to manufacture aluminium and graphite. The two industries together consume around 91 per cent of coal-tar pitch produced in the country.
“We are awaiting the requisite clearances for land. Once through, we will start work on the first phase of the project. Construction work is likely to begin after March 2013,” Choudhary told Business Line.
According to Choudhary, the first phase of the project at an estimated investment of Rs 290 crore, will see the Odisha plant producing around 150,000 tonnes of coal-tar pitch. The second phase of another 150,000 tonnes is likely to be in place by March 2016.
Expansion Plans
The company will also invest another Rs 800 crore towards expansion of its existing capacities in India and China. Himadri will spend nearly Rs 300 crore to shore-up coal-tar distillation facilities at its Hooghly unit by another 150,000 tonnes, pushing up its total capacity to 400,000 tonnes by this fiscal.
Annual capacity
At present, it has an annual capacity of 250,000 tonnes across its two units located in West Bengal (Howrah and Hooghly) and one in Vishakhapatnam. The first phase of Himadri’s Shandong unit in China of 100,000 tonne annual capacity, went on-stream earlier this year.
The company, Choudhary said, is eyeing an annual capacity of 10 lakh tonnes by March 2016 with 7 lakh tonnes coming from India and the remaining from China.
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