Make In India! Gujarat Chem Firm Shows the Way by Decreasing the Nation’s Dependence on Imports for Phenol by 58 Per Cent

A chemical company from Gujarat has contributed to decreasing the nation’s dependency on imports for phenol by 58 per cent under the Make-In-India initiative. The company which is based in Vadodara is expected to save the country around $400 million in value of imports once its new plant is up and running on full capacity.

Deepak nitrite and its wholly-owned subsidiary Deepak Phenolics has started manufacturing phenol and acetone with the average capacity utilisation of around 80 per cent. After the new plant’s installation, the imports have gone down and 80 percent of nation’s phenol availability is met by the local manufacturer instead of through imports.

Phenol and acetone find applications in various user industries like pharmaceutical, chemical, agriculture and dyes, which form a part of GDP and infrastructure development in the country. Earlier, availability of phenol in India was only around 22% of total demand, now the local supply has gone up by 80%.

Deepak Mehta, chairman and MD of the firm, said, “Our phenol, acetone and upcoming derivative projects are all a step towards building India’s chemical security with import substitution. A large number of small and medium enterprises will also benefit due to local availability of phenol and acetone.”

The project with capital investment of Rs 1,400 crore has been successfully commissioned and operating since last quarter. This business alone brought in turnover of Rs 1,000 cr and most importantly, annual import substitution of phenol will now bring foreign exchange savings of $400 mn to the country.

Source: AM

Image Courtesy:Deepal Nitrate