GNFC, Belgium's Ecophos to set up Rs 526 cr plant in Gujarat

Gujarat Narmada Valley Fertilizers and Chemicals (GNFC) is partnering Belgian firm Ecophos SA to set up a di-calcium phosphate plant at Dahej in Gujarat at an estimated cost of Rs 526 crore.
"The company has initiated actions for setting up 2,00,000 MTPA di-calcium phosphate (DCP) project in a joint venture with Ecophos SA, Belgium.
"The Rs 526 crore project will have an equity investment of Rs 24 crore from GNFC and Rs 134 crore by Ecophos in the ratio of 15:85 respectively," GNFC said in its annual report here.
With the implementation of this project, entire hydrochloric acid (HCI) generated as by-product from the toulene di-isocyanate (TDI) plant at Dahej will be utilised for production of DCP, resulting into improvement in the profitability of TDI business.

The company is concentrating on speedy implementation of DCP project as a downstream integration of TDI-II Dahej plant, it said.
GNFC is engaged in manufacturing and selling fertilisers such as urea and ammonium nitro-phosphate under the 'Narmada' brand.

The company is exploring opportunities in countries where there is availability of raw materials like natural gas, rock phosphate and other petroleum products at economic prices, it said.
Among other new initiatives, GNFC is planning to set up a lime purification project. A joint venture company with Santosh Agrochem LLP was set up to purify by-product lime, to make it more marketable.

This will resolve the environmental issues and at the same time add value to the product, it said.
The company is also setting up its own production facility of neem oil by installing an expelling unit, in addition to the processing of neem seeds through existing neem oil producers in Gujarat.
Inspite of sluggish conditions in domestic as well as overseas markets, the company registered a turnover of Rs 4,548.30 crore for the year 2015-16 as compared to Rs 4,641.52 crore during previous year, a marginal decrease of 2 per cent.
The outlook for fertilizer business is positive following good monsoon, it added.

On the chemical sector, the company said the current low per capita consumption in the domestic market and strong growth outlook for end usage are the key growth drivers for this industry.