Tata Chemicals to invest Rs. 565 cr to set up units in Gujarat and Andhra Pradesh

National, February 10, 2017- Tata Chemicals (TCL), a global company with interests in business that focus on LIFE: Living, Industry and Farm Essential, today announced that it will invest Rs. 565 crores in setting up two facilities in Andhra Pradesh and Gujarat to manufacture soluble dietary fibres and silica.

Tata Chemicals had signed an MoU with the Government of Andhra Pradesh on January 27, 2017 to seal a Rs. 270 crores investment plan wherein a state-of-the-art, biotechnology unit will be set-up in Nellore district for the manufacturing of soluble dietary fibres with cutting-edge health benefits. Additionally, investments of Rs. 295 crores have also been approved to set up a plant in the state of Gujarat for manufacturing precipitated highly dispersible silica.

While dispersible silica, a specialty chemicals, represents downstream value addition to TCL’s soda ash business, precipitated silica has applications in several industries including rubber, coatings, pesticides and oral care and seven patents have already been filed for the company’s product.

The move is in line with Tata Chemicals’ focus on innovation and zest for delivering quality and value to their customers. These products are a result of the company’s in-house Research and Development efforts and were undertaken at their Innovation Centre in Pune. The Innovation Center has already filed 7 patents for its technology for manufacturing highly dispersible silica.

Speaking on the recent investments decision, Mr. R. Mukundan, MD & CEO, Tata Chemicals, said, “These investments in path-breaking innovative specialty businesses marks a significant milestone in our transformation journey to build technology enabled differentiation in our products and brands. With our Highly Dispersible Silica investment in Gujarat, we are aiming to value add to our soda ash business, and through investment in nutritional solutions business in Andhra, we aim to ideally serve demanding and critical segments such of Early Life Nutrition (infant nutrition) and medical foods through ingredients, formulations and customized products.”

TCL’s current biotechnology-based nutritional solutions, food ingredients and exploratory efforts in nano-materials at the Innovation Centre in Pune are outcomes of using principles of sustainability and green chemistry.