NEW DELHI: State-run IndianOil has decided to invest more than Rs 4,000 crore into building a PVC (poly vinyl chloride) manufacturing facility in Gujarat as India’s largest oil refiner and fuel retailer seeks to reduce the country’s dependence on imports of the resin with wide-ranging applications — from making buckets to pipes, building homes, medical packaging to cellphones and automobiles.
The company board approved the investment proposal recently, sources said, adding the move is part of a strategy to focus on the downstream petrochemical and polymer business with a view to capitalising the supply gap amid rapid growth in demand.
India is the world’s largest importer of PVC resin, followed by the US and China. The country imports more than 2 million tonne, or half of the over 4 million tonne annual demand in 2021. Most of the imports are made from Taiwan, South Korea and Japan.
The import dependence is expected to rise as the demand is forecast to exceed 7 million tonnes by 2030, posting a compounded annual growth rate of over 6% until then.
“The petrochemical market size in India is about $190 billion but the per capita consumption of petrochemical segments is significantly lower than in developed economies. This gap offers substantial space for demand growth and investment opportunities,” oil minister Hardeep Singh Puri told a petrochemical conclave in Delhi
“The petrochemical sector supports the prime minister’s ‘Make In India’ and ‘Make for the World’ initiatives… One of the most important factors driving the growth of petrochemical industry is the increasing demand for petrochemical products from a growing population and a rapidly expanding economy. India would contribute 10% to the incremental growth of global petrochemical demand,” Puri said.
The govt has instituted several policies to boost this sector and improve the ease of doing business, including 100% foreign direct investment through the automatic route, he said.
