DFPCL's new plant will produce isopropyl alcohol

(Article first published in The Times of India on 11^th January 2004)

Pune: The Rs. 546-crore Deepak Fertilisers and Petrochemicals Corporation Ltd. (DFPCL) is setting up a Rs. 200 crore plant to manufacture isopropyl alcohol (IPA). This will be the first such facility in the country as the product requirement is currently being met through 100 per cent imports.

IPA is a versatile value-added solvent which finds use in pharmaceutical, agro-chemical, organic chemical, imaging chemical (printing and inks), health care and paint sectors.

To be located at DFPCL's existing complex at Taloja in Raigad district, the plant is scheduled for full-implementation by end of fiscal year 2005. It would have a capacity of 70,000 metric tonnes per annum (MTPA).

The project will be part-funded by internal accruals and partly by debt raised through external commercial borrowings (ECBs) and project funding, said S. C. Mehta, managing director of DFPCL. The company is yet to work out the exact debt-equity ratio.

DFPCL has licensed the exclusive rights in India for seven years for the IPA technology from US based Equistar-Lyondall, a $12.7-billion corporation which licenses and sells technology and process across the chemical sector around the world.

The company expects sales of around Rs. 200 crore through the new venture in the first fiscal of operations.

The company will target the domestic IPA market, estimated at around 62,000 MTPA and growing at the rate of about seven per cent. Since the multi-product company's methanol customers are likely to be large consumers of IPA, it can synergistically exploit its existing nation-wide marketing and sales network for its chemical products, such as methanol and nitric acid.

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