DESPITE NANO depression, the industrial climate of West Bengal remains conducive to investment and the Left Front Government has reasons to be elated with the recent developments.
The MCC PTA India Corporation Private Limited (MCPI), an Indian subsidiary of Mitsubishi Chemical Holding Corporation (MCHC) of Japan, recently inaugurated the Rs 1920 crore-second phase of its operations in Haldia in East Midnapore district. The Centre and the state government signed an agreement for the proposed chemical hub at Nayachar near Haldia and the Jindal Group announced to go ahead with its steel and power plants at Salbani in the Maoist infested areas of West Midnapore district.
While Wipro has agreed to invest further for IT expansion at Rajarhat, the West Bengal Government has started allotting land for the airport at Ondal in Burdwan districts. The state Government had also initiated moves to facilitate three major steel projects, also in Burdwan. A number of power projects are also coming up in the state.
“Things have once again started looking up and the investors are getting back their confidence, particularly after the MCPI expansion,” a senior state government official said.
Business observers, however, alleged that a hostile Trinamool Congress had steel been obstructing investment in the state on one pretext or other. Paharpur Cooling Tower had also decided to follow Nano and set up its plant at Sananda in Gujarat following prolonged dispute with Trade Union leaders of the Trinamool Congress, they added.
They said both the Centre and the state should take advantage of the MCPI second-phase investment and ensure further facilities in Haldia.
According to MCPI sources, 0.3 million tonne of paraxylene, the main feedstock for PTA, is currently imported and this will go up to 0.9 mt once the Haldia plant reaches full capacity.
“This brings a great opportunity for the Indian Oil Corporation to invest more and expand the capapcity of its Haldia refinery to meet the demand paraxylene of MCPI. But for reasons unknown, the IOC authorities have held back its popsed expansion of the Haldia Refinery,” the observers pointed out. Sources within Indian Oil Corporation, however, said that the IOC authorities had decided to concentrate on its Paradip project and might not go for expansion of facilities in Haldia at all.
“If the MCPI can successfully implement its second-phase expansion without much hassle investors, both private and public, should not sit idle now and come forward to revitalise their proposed projects in the state,” the observers said.
The second phase of the MCPI has a production capacity of 8,00,000 tones of Purified Terephalic Acid (PTA) per annum. The company’s existing plant — with a capacity of 4,70,000 tones per annum and an investment of Rs 1,475 crore — is so far the biggest Japanese foreign direct investment in India. After expansion, the Haldia plant has now become Mitsubishi’s second largest PTA plant in the world after South Korea. The expected turnover of the plant is around Rs 5,000 crore.
With this, the Haldia plant will become the largest investment from MCC at any single location outside Japan with cumulative investment of $800 million and also the largest single-line PTA production facility in the world. The plant would contribute 30 per cent to MCC’s total PTA business worldwide, which would then be worth around $4 billion.
PTA is the raw material and basic building block in the production of polyster staple fibre, polyster filament yarn, PET bottles, and other articles of everyday usage.
MCC, among Japan’s largest diversified chemical companies, has consolidated sales of $23 billion and operations in Japan, South Korea, Indonesia, India and China.
MCPI sources said MCHC is scouting for collaboration in India in pharmaceuticals (especially generic drugs) and photo-voltaic segments. MCHC is a $30-billion Japanese conglomerate with a presence in chemicals, plastics and pharma. The Japanese company already has a tie-up with Moser Baer in India in the DVD storage space and is setting up a polypropylene compound plant at Neemrana in Rajasthan.
