KOLKATA: Phillips Carbon Black Ltd (PCBL) has said it was “rethinking” on Tamil Nadu as the destination for its proposed Rs 600 crore plant and evaluating Andhra Pradesh and Telangana as alternative locations.
PCBL chairman Sanjiv Goenka said the “rethink” was compelled by the Sterlite incident that rocked Tamil Nadu in May.
Violent protests had erupted in Tamil Nadu’s Tuticorin in May this year demanding closure of Sterlite’s copper smelter plant that killed 13 people.
“We are rethinking on the site of Tamil Nadu and evaluating other two states of Andhra Pradesh and Telengana for the 1.5 lakh tonne greenfield plant. However, we have not written-off Tamil Nadu,” Goenka said.
However, Goenka said, PCBL would zero in on the location by September this year. The company holds land in Tamil Nadu.
Meanwhile, the greenfield and brownfield expansions at Mundra and Palej in Gujarat would raise the country’s largest carbon black maker’s capacity by another 50 per cent to seven lakh tonnes, Goenka said. PTI
