PCBL targets rubber grade carbon black at new greenfield plant

Mumbai, India - PCBL, formerly Philips Carbon Black Ltd, is currently in the process of acquiring 116 acres of land in Naidupeta, Andhra Pradesh for its sixth manufacturing unit, according to managing director Kaushik Roy.

The new facility will primarily focus on rubber black as well as performance and speciality chemicals, Roy explained during a 29 April fiscal 2025 earnings call.

In the first phase, the group is planning to build a 150 kilotonne per annum (ktpa) unit mainly producing rubber grade carbon blacks.

The land can eventually accommodate 450ktpa of production capacity, said the PCBL leader.

The group projects capex at this site to commence in a year and construction to take 18 months thereafter.

The proposed greenfield plant is expected to provide “significant tax advantage as earnings would be subject to a lower tax rate of 17.2%.”

The new facility is part of PCBL’s broader strategy to increase its carbon black production capacity to over 1 million tonnes per annum by fiscal year 2027 to 2028.

Among other ongoing projects are two capacity expansions at PCBL’s recently opened facility in Tamil Nadu.

The plant currently produces 60ktpa of rubber grade carbon blacks and will see the further addition of a 30ktpa speciality line “in a few weeks’ time.”

An additional 60ktpa of rubber grade capacity will be installed at the plant by the end of the 2026 fiscal year, which started 1 April.

As of November 2024, the Indian group’s carbon black production capacity stands at 770 ktpa, consisting of both speciality and rubber carbon black products.