The Chatterjee Group will invest another Rs 10,000 crore in downstream projects at Haldia Petrochemicals Ltd (HPL), West Bengal chief minister Suvendu Adhikari said after inaugurating a phenol and acetone plant at the Haldia industrial complex. The investment announcement places new value-added chemical manufacturing at the centre of Haldia’s next phase of industrial expansion.
The newly inaugurated Adperma plant, a wholly owned subsidiary of the group-run petrochemical company, has received an investment of Rs 6,000 crore, according to the chief minister. It can produce 3.4 lakh tonnes of phenol and 2.1 lakh tonnes of acetone annually.
Adhikari said the plant would manufacture raw materials for its products within the complex instead of sourcing them from outside. He described the project as an example of the central government’s Atmanirbhar Bharat objective and said the state was seeking to create more industrial opportunities and employment.
TCG founder-chairman Purnendu Chatterjee said the group could expand through value-added products and speciality chemicals. He also said land acquisition in Haldia had faced hurdles, but that the new government had resolved the issue, allowing the project to be inaugurated.
The proposed Rs 10,000 crore investment is expected to focus on additional downstream projects linked to HPL. HPL managing director and chief executive officer Navanit Narayan had earlier said that more phenolic products would be manufactured in the Haldia complex. The company and the state government did not provide a detailed project-wise breakup or implementation timeline for the additional investment in the statements reported by The Times of India.
The announcement also highlighted the infrastructure requirements accompanying industrial growth in Haldia. Adhikari urged TCG to establish a data centre in West Bengal and offered government support for land. Chatterjee said the group was examining suitable land in either Kolkata or Haldia and that the chief minister had assured assistance with the process.
The chief minister also referred to other proposed investments in the region. He said RPSG chairman Sanjeev Goenka had expressed interest in setting up power plants in Haldia and Barrackpore through Haldia Energy Ltd. The Haldia Development Authority has allotted 98 acres for a Pepsi plant and another 50 acres to a company planning a medical equipment facility, according to Adhikari.
Worker safety and industrial healthcare were part of the announcements. Adhikari said Haldia would receive a 50-bed trauma care centre with a specialised burns unit by June 2027. The facility is to receive Rs 18 crore from the Haldia Development Authority and Rs 5 crore sanctioned by the Centre under the Health Mission. He also said Indian Oil Corporation had earlier donated Rs 5 crore from its corporate social responsibility funds for establishing a trauma care centre.
The chief minister asked companies to recruit Industrial Training Institute graduates through campus placements and directed the technical education minister to assess infrastructure requirements at the ITI in Durgachak. The next steps for TCG’s expansion will depend on the proposed industrial policy, land availability and the conversion of the investment announcement into detailed downstream and speciality-chemical projects.
