Deepak Fertiliser to invest Rs 550 cr to set up plant in Gujarat

Deepak Fertilisers today announced setting up of a new nitric acid plant at Dahej in Gujarat with an investment of Rs 550 crore to meet the rising demand.

At present, Deepak Fertilisers And Petrochemicals Corporation Ltd (DFPCL) has a manufacturing unit for nitric acid in Taloja, Maharashtra with capacity close to 8.4 lakh tonnes per annum. It also has facilities to manufacture TAN and fertilisers at the same place.

"This new facility will be the first step of development of a mega-multi products site at Dahej, which would cater to the demand of many intermediates and specialty chemicals manufacturers in India," DFPCL Chairman and Managing Director Sailesh Mehta said in a statement.

The company said it plans to deploy a state-of-the-art manufacturing facility with an investment of Rs 550 crore.

The land for the proposed project has already been acquired. The project is scheduled to be completed by second half of 2018, it said.

DFPCL is expanding the production capacity of nitric acid in view of expected rise in demand from various industries including dyes, defence, agrochemicals and pharma.

"There have been significant developments in the recent past which have contributed to the growth of Nitric Acid demand in the Gujarat Region. A manufacturing facility in Dahej will bring us closer to our key customers," the company's Chemical business President Paresh Trivedi said.

Some the company's key customers have already announced their expansion plans. "We are aligning our expansion plans with those of our customers so as to cater to their demands." DFPCL manufactures three variants of nitric Acid. Its current capacity is close to 8.4 lakh tonnes per annum, but most of it is used for captive consumption with only 1.6 lakh tonnes per annum available for merchant sale.

With the increased capacity, the company will be able to provide an incremental 1.48 lakh tonnes per annum, it added.