BOC to invest Rs 1000cr in 3 years

Gas company, BOC India, will be investing Rs 1,000 crore over the next three years, across its various projects.

Srikumar Menon, managing director, BOC India, said that half of the amount would come from the air separation unit (ASU) being set up for Rourkela Steel Plant. The ASU at Rourkela would have a capacity of 1,700 tonnes per day (tpd). Menon was speaking on the sidelines of the company’s annual general meeting.

BOC was eyeing another major contract from a steel major. Menon, however, refused to divulge the name of the company. BOC was also in the process of setting up a merchant plant at Uttarakhand, which would have a capacity of 250 tpd. The plant would be commissioned by the middle of next year and would cater to the small steel companies in the north of India, said Menon.

BOC also commissioned a 1,800 tpd ASU at Bellary for JSW Steel. S M Datta, chairman, BOC India said, that major customers had not shelved their investment plans and consumption of gases had started recovering after the initial setback.

During the year, BOC also made strategic investments focusing on the solar photovoltaic business with strong support from Linde Electronics in developing local resource capability. The company is also setting up infrastructure for manufacturing, storing and pipeline distribution of high value electronic gases in a special economic zone in the state of Andhra Pradesh to customers in photovoltaic space.

Menon said, the investment in the project was likely to be Rs 45-50 crore.