Haldia Petrochemicals has inaugurated a new phenol and acetone production plant in West Bengal after an investment of about ₹6,000 crore, with the facility expected to reduce India’s dependence on imports of the two industrial chemicals.
The plant, described by the company and government sources as the country’s largest phenol and acetone production facility, was inaugurated at Haldia on Wednesday. The facility has been developed with investment from Adipar and is expected to produce 345,000 tonnes of phenol and 215,000 tonnes of acetone annually, according to the report by Anandabazar – West Bengal.
The project was launched in 2014 and represents one of the largest investments in Haldia’s industrial zone in nearly two decades, the report said. Haldia Petrochemicals chairman Purnendu Chatterjee and managing director Navneet Narayan attended the inauguration, along with state ministers and legislators.
Speaking at the event, Suvendu Adhikari said the plant would end the need to import phenol and acetone. “Earlier, phenol and acetone had to be produced abroad. From today, that becomes zero,” he was quoted as saying. The remarks linked the facility to the broader national objective of expanding domestic production and reducing import dependence.
Phenol and acetone are used across industrial supply chains, including in the manufacture of resins, plastics, coatings, solvents and other chemical products. The new capacity is therefore expected to strengthen the availability of these inputs for downstream industries, although the report does not provide details on pricing, customer contracts or the plant’s commissioning schedule.
The facility is expected to create employment for about 1,400 people through direct and indirect jobs, according to the report. The state government also said the project could lead to a further ₹10,000 crore in investment. The employment figure includes indirect opportunities, but no sector-wise or contractor-wise breakdown was provided.
The inauguration also brought renewed attention to the skills required by Haldia’s industrial economy. The company sought skilled local workers, following which Adhikari asked the state’s higher education minister to inspect local industrial training institutes and assess the infrastructure required to expand training capacity. The report did not specify the number of workers to be recruited or the qualifications needed.
Additional industrial proposals were announced for the Haldia area. A beverage manufacturing unit is planned on 98 acres, while a medical equipment manufacturing plant is expected to be developed on 50 acres. The state government also announced a 50-bed trauma-care and burns unit for industrial workers, to be built at a cost of ₹28 crore by June 2027.
The announcements place Haldia’s chemical production capacity alongside proposed manufacturing, worker-safety and skills infrastructure. The next milestones will be the operation of the phenol and acetone plant, the implementation of the local training review, and progress on the proposed beverage, medical equipment and trauma-care projects.
