FACT has begun steps to restart its caprolactam plant at Eloor near Kalamassery, with a financial assistance proposal of about Rs 60 crore submitted to the Union Ministry of Chemicals and Fertilizers, according to a report by Kerala Kaumudi – Kochi. The move could revive a major industrial facility that was closed after cheaper imported caprolactam weakened its commercial viability.
The plant has an annual caprolactam production capacity of 50,000 metric tonnes. Caprolactam is the principal raw material used to manufacture nylon-6, which is used in sportswear, swimwear, fishing nets, innerwear, socks, tyre cords, fabrics, textile filament yarn, carpets, brush fibres, conveyor belts and plastic films.
FACT and Gujarat State Fertilizers and Chemicals Ltd are reported to be the only producers of caprolactam in India. The facility’s proposed restart is therefore linked not only to FACT’s operations but also to domestic availability of a material used across the textile, automotive, fishing and plastics sectors.
The plant was commissioned during 1990-91 at a reported cost of Rs 438 crore. It stopped operating in 2013 amid rising fuel costs, before being reopened in 2021 after being converted to liquefied natural gas as its fuel. It was shut again in 2024 after low-priced imported caprolactam entered the Indian market.
The report said imports from China, Russia, Thailand and the United States affected FACT’s operations. It identified low-priced Chinese products as a particular threat and said the domestic industry had raised concerns about the entry of cheaper products of inferior quality.
The trade-related action followed a complaint by Gujarat State Fertilizers and Chemicals. The Directorate General of Trade Remedies, under the Ministry of Commerce, conducted an anti-dumping investigation into the imports. According to the report, the findings supported action to increase import duties, with the measure expected to take effect soon. The final implementation details and effective date were not provided in the report.
The caprolactam facility also produces ammonium sulphate as a by-product and has a reported capacity of 225,000 metric tonnes for that output. FACT had earlier recorded turnover of about Rs 700 crore, according to the report, although the supplied material does not specify the period associated with that figure.
The proposed financial assistance and possible increase in import duties represent two separate elements of the restart effort: direct support for bringing the plant back into operation and a trade remedy intended to address the price pressure from imports. Neither the final funding approval nor the operational restart date has been announced in the supplied report.
The next steps are the Union ministry’s consideration of the financial assistance proposal and the implementation of any import-duty increase following the trade-remedy process. FACT’s restart timeline will depend on those decisions and on the plant’s technical and commercial readiness.
