Kolkata, July 06

PCBL Ltd, formerly known as Phillips Carbon Black Ltd, which witnessed 32 per cent growth in revenue to the tune of ₹5,874 crore and 14 per cent growth in EBITDA at ₹775 crore in 2022-23, is expecting further improvement in financial performance with improved operating efficiencies and additional capacities getting commissioned.

The company, which is a part of the RP-Sanjiv Goenka Group, plans to penetrate new geographies and expand global footprint by tapping emerging opportunities in untapped markets. It also plans to launch a slew of products over the next three years with a view to meet emerging customer demands, PCBL said in its latest annual report (2023).

Moving up the value chain with higher focus on customised solutions — both in performance and specialty portfolios, increasing the level of automation and digitisation for operational efficiencies, developing new specialty and performance chemicals grades and concentrating on after-sale services among others would be some of the strategic areas of focus for the company moving forward.

Ramping up capacities

PCBL, which operates in the carbon black segment with a current production capacity of 6,66,000 mtpa and generates close to 98 MW of green power, has undertaken two expansion projects. The first being a greenfield project in Chennai through its wholly owned subsidiary, PCBL (TN) Ltd. It has commissioned the first phase (i.e, 63,000 mtpa), and upon completion, the plant will add 1,47,000 mtpa of carbon black capacity and 24 MW of green power.

The second is a brownfield project at Mundra in Gujarat. The estimated capacity of the plant is 40,000 mtpa and will be completed in two phases. With this, the company’s total manufacturing capacity is projected to be 7,90,000 mtpa and 122 MW of green power.

“With accelerated capacity augmentation plans in place, PCBL is well-equipped for the next phase of growth, ready to cater to national as well as international markets. Our R&D team is dedicated to enhancing various aspects of our operations such as improving processes, maximising yield, optimising feedstock efficiency, tailoring grades to specific requirements and exploring new avenues for product development,” Sanjiv Goenka, chairman, PCBL said in the report.

Expanding product portfolio

Having started as a carbon black manufacturer in 1960, the company is now in the process of evolving horizons to emerge as a prominent chemical manufacturer and has deployed dedicated production lines for the specialty chemicals portfolio comprising more than 40 grades. This enables it to cater to the evolving requirements of customer partners worldwide across various segments such as rubber, engineering plastics, inks & coatings, conductives, batteries among others, he said.

According to Kaushik Roy, Managing Director, PCBL Ltd, the company’s R&D centre in India and innovation centre at Belgium, in tandem with the process technology team, is enabling it to expand the product portfolio as well as undertake process innovations to cater to the evolving needs of customers.

“We have various products in the pipeline, set to be launched in the next three years. Our commitment to customer centricity and the pursuit of growing our market share involves implementing several key strategies. As we embark on this journey, one of our key focus areas is penetrating new geographies and expanding our global footprint. We aim to accomplish this by exploring the emerging opportunities presented in untapped markets,” he said in the report.

The company is also strategically shifting its focus from customer relationship management (CRM) to a more holistic approach to customer experience management (CEM), he added.

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