Sabarmati: Meghmani Finechem Limited (‘MFL’ or the company), a manufacturer of Chlor-Alkali and its value-added Derivatives, on Wednesday announced the commissioning of Rs. 275 crore Epichlorohydrin (ECH) Plant of 50,000 TPA capacity at Dahej in Central Gujarat. Meghmani in a statement said it is the first company in India to commission an ECH plant – a currently fully imported product. MFL’s entry into this product is in line with the Government’s initiative of Aatmanirbhar Bharat and Make in India. This will reduce the dependence of ECH consumer on imports thereby helping the country save its foreign exchange reserves.

ECH can be manufactured through propylene or glycerin process, where key raw material being used is a fully renewable resource. This process significantly reduces the energy and water consumption thereby reducing the Company’s carbon footprint, the company said in its announcement note.

The company in its release stated: In India, approximately 80% of ECH goes into Epoxy Resin manufacturing, which is further used in industries such as paint, automotive, construction material, windmill, adhesives, electronics, etc. The remaining 20% of the ECH is consumed by the pharmaceuticals industry, for water treatment and paper chemicals, demand for which is also expected to grow significantly. With increased GOI focus on Infrastructure development and expected pick up in Indian consumption story, indirect demand for ECH is expected to grow significantly. Currently demand for ECH in India is around 80 KTPA, but considering the increase and new capacities of Epoxy resin in coming years, we see a significant surge in demand of ECH in next 2 – 3 years, plus the normal demand for ECH is expected to grow around 10% in coming five years. Globally, the demand for ECH is expected to grow by 4% to 5%.