The Kolkata-based Dhunseri Ventures will invest over Rs 400 crore to set up a polyester packaging unit in West Bengal. While approximately Rs 160 crore of the investment will be funded through internal accruals, the remaining portion will be debt-financed, which includes bank loans.

The company had already incorporated a fully-owned subsidiary, Dhunseri Poly Films on 28 November 2020, for implementation of the new project to make polyester films or BoPET (biaxially-oriented polyethylene terephthalate made from stretched PET) with an annual capacity of 45,000 tonne. The machinery has been ordered from Germany.

Around 38 acre of land in the state government-owned industrial park at Panagarh in Burdwan district has already been obtained. The unit is expected to start commercial operations in  Phase-I around February-March 2023.

The Panagarh plant will be a downstream unit of Dhunseri’s existing Haldia plant in West Bengal where it makes polyethylene terephthalate (PET) resins that are used in making plastic materials.

The downstream facility will cater to packaging materials used primarily in food, cosmetics, personal care and pharmaceuticals. Approximately 200 jobs will be generated at the upcoming unit.

Dhunseri Ventures, through a joint venture with Thailand’s Indorama, has two PET resin plants in India, the Haldia unit with a capacity of 4,80,000 tpa and the second at Panipat, Haryana with a capacity of 2,16,000 tpa.

This apart, it entered into 50:50 JV with Indorama Ventures Public Company to restart its PET facility in Ain Sokhna Free Trade Zone, North-West of the Gulf of Suez in Egypt, having an annual capacity of 5,40,000 tonne. It also has subsidiaries in the confectionery business and infrastructure sectors (setting up of IT SEZ).

The downstream vertical is expected to generate a turnover to the tune of Rs 400 crore to Rs 500 crore in two years of its operations. The capacity ramp-up will also happen depending on demand.