The Kolkata-based Dhanuka family-promotedDhunseri Ventures, formerly Dhunseri Petrochem, will invest over ₹400 crore to set up a polyester packaging unit in West Bengal.
While approximately ₹160 crore of the investment will be funded through internal accruals, the remaining portion will be debt-financed, which includes bank loans.
The company had already incorporated a fully-owned subsidiary, Dhunseri Poly Films Private Limited, on November 28, for implementation of the new project to make polyester films or BoPET (biaxially-oriented polyethylene terephthalate made from stretched PET) with an annual capacity of 45,000 tonnes. The machinery has been ordered from Germany.
According to Chandra Kumar Dhanuka, Chairman, Dhunseri Ventures Ltd, around 38 acres of land in the State government-owned industrial park at Panagarh in Burdwan district (approximately 160 km from Kolkata) has already been obtained. The unit is expected to start commercial operations in the first phase around February-March 2023.
The Panagarh plant will be a downstream unit of Dhunseri’s existing Haldia plant (in West Bengal) where it makes PET (polyethylene terephthalate) resins that are used in making plastic materials. The downstream facility will cater to packaging materials used primarily in food, cosmetics, personal care and pharmaceuticals.
“We wanted to expand and there was an opportunity in polyester packaging material in the East. There are no major players in the region. And we will also get the raw material from our Haldia PET plant. We believe there’s good opportunity in the segment,” he told BusinessLine . Approximately 200 jobs will be generated at the upcoming unit.
Dhunseri Ventures, through a joint venture with Thailand’s Indorama, has two PET resin plants in India, the Haldia unit with a capacity of 4,80,000 tonnes per annum and the second at Panipat (Haryana) with a capacity of 2,16,000 tonnes per annum.
This apart, it entered into a 50:50 JV with Indorama Ventures Public Company to restart its PET facility in Ain Sokhna free trade zone, North West of the Gulf of Suez in Egypt, having an annual capacity of 5,40,000 tonnes. It also has subsidiaries in the confectionery business and infrastructure sectors (setting up of IT SEZ).
Dhunseri Ventures reported a consolidated net income of ₹151 crore (for the nine-month period ending December 2020) and a net profit of ₹115 crore.
According to Dhanuka, the downstream vertical is expected to generate turnover to the tune of ₹400-500 crore in two years of its operations. Capacity ramp-up will also happen depending on demand.
Apart from catering to the domestic market, the unit will also look at export to Europe and African nations at a later stage.