Manali Petrochemical pads up for global play

In talks to set up application centres in Singapore, Qatar, the US and west Europe

Manali Petrochemical is padding up to go global with five international application centres and is already in talks with Singapore, Qatar, the US and some western European nations. The listed petrochemicals major, a part of the MA Chidambaram group, will make an investment of Rs 150 crore for the centres through a subsidiary to be set up in Singapore.

Muthukrishnan Ravi, managing director, Manali Petrochemicals, said the discussions with authorities in Singapore and Qatar were at an advanced stage. “The investment would be funded through internal resources,” he added.

The application centres will work on new technologies and create better systems for existing applications to cater to the needs of their respective geographies. These will drive Manali Petrochemical’s expansion plans, and will be crucial in augmenting the company’s capabilities in product development and technology generation, catering to its global customer base.

The first application centre has been set up in Chennai.

The move is also expected to strengthen the speciality product portfolio of the company that has witnessed a growth in demand. The company aims to move towards more value-added products, which are more profitable.

Ravi said the mix of speciality and applications products to commodity ratio is expected to be half and half eventually, from the current 30 to 70. This would increase the margins.

Ashwin C Muthiah, chairman, Manali Petrochemical, told Business Standard, “So far, the Rs 800-crore crore company has been more focused on commodity. To improve the bottomline and stakeholders’ value, it has now decided to focus more on speciality and value-added products. Our vision in the next five years is to transform from an indigenous industry pioneer to a company with a multinational presence through value addition.”

The company will also look for opportunities to set up manufacturing facilities and appointed consultants to study inorganic opportunities in the additive industry, system houses as well as industries catering to the system houses. The new facilities will be manned by top class technical talent including 20-25 in each centre having PhDs. The centres can also impart technical training for small scale applications to aspiring entrepreneurs and small-scale industries.
GOING GLOBAL

• Manali Petrochemical Plans to set up five application centres
   
• Qatar, Singapore, the US and Western Europe are likely locations
   
• Plans to invest Rs 150 cr
   
• The first application has been set up in Manali in Chennai