Himadri Chemicals plans to invest Rs 1,900 crore for coal tar capacity expansion and foray into new by-products like pitch coke.

“We have lined up to invest Rs 1,200 crore for expanding our coal tar capacity to one million tonne by 2015, from the present 2.5 lakh tonnes in phases. We are also looking to invest Rs 700 crore to add new by-products to our current portfolio,” Himadri Chemicals and Industries CEO, Mr Anurag Choudhary, told PTI here.

This funding will be done in a phased manner, partly through internal accruals and partly through debt.

“In the first phase, the capacity will be increased to four lakh tonnes by December this year,” he said.

At present, the West Bengal-based company manufactures eight by-products with different applications used in aluminium, rubber, dye and intermediaries, batteries and pipelines among others.

Pitch coke facility

The company is planning to set up a greenfield manufacturing unit to produce pitch coke at Hoogly in West Bengal in the next three years with an investment of Rs 700 crore and a capacity of 50,000 tonnes, he said, adding that the funding will be done through internal accruals and debt.

Pitch coke is used as a basic raw material for electrode industry.

Carbon material unit

The company, he said, is setting up an advanced carbon material unit at Falta in West Bengal with a 10,000-tonne capacity by 2015.

“We are expecting to produce 300 tonnes of advanced carbon material from our Falta unit by December this year and plan to expand it to 10,000 tonnes by 2015,” he added.

Himadri Chemicals is also working on setting up a greenfield plant to produce carbon fibre, which is used in high technology aircraft, etc.

“We are still mulling over it and will soon take a decision on it,” he added.