Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister YS Jagan Mohan Reddy has unveiled the AP Industrial Gasses and Medical Oxygen Manufacturing Policy 2021-22 with the aim to double oxygen manufacturing capacity to 700 tonnes.
It targets at least 50 oxygen plants in both captive model (in hospitals) and in non-captive model.
The demand for medical oxygen has grown exponentially due to the Covid second wave and is currently at 600-700 tonnes. The State’s capacity is currently at 364 tonnes with the rest of the demand being met through supplies from Odisha, West Bengal and Karnataka.
According to Industries Minister Mekapati Goutham Reddy the State has already received interest from some companies such as Nova Air (Sri City), Air Liquid (Kadapa), Praxair (Chittoor), and Inox Air Products (Vijayawada/Guntur) which will augment the oxygen production capabilities.
Further, six sick units have already been identified and refurbished for producing oxygen. There has been a lot of interest from entrepreneurs to setup small and medium scale oxygen plants which can be installed in a span of 3-6 months and the policy has been designed to support entrepreneurs of all scale.
Zeolite molecular sieve is a key component in the oxygen plants and the GoAP is in touch with various suppliers across the globe for importing the material. The policy, which will be effective from April 15, 2021 with a one year validity, will subsidise the capex and extend incentives.
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