Gujarat Alkalis & Chemicals Ltd (GACL) was established in 1973 and is today one of the largest producers of caustic soda in the country, with an installed production capacity of 429,050 metric tonnes with a 14% share in the domestic market. Since inception, GACL has expanded its operations in the chloro-alkali sector and also diversified into several higher end products through forward and backward integration. GACL was the first Indian company to replace the mercury cell technology with environment friendly and energy efficient membrane technology in 1989. It has always ensured upgrading and adapting eco-friendly and green technologies while it ensured the capacity utilisation of 90% in the Caustic Soda segment during FY 2015-16. Further, the Company has achieved optimum capacity utilisation of more than 100% in some of the plants/products viz. Caustic Soda, , Hydrogen Peroxide, Caustic Potash at the Vadodara Complex and Phosphoric Acid, Hydrogen Peroxide and Aluminium Chloride at its Dahej Complex. The Company’s product basket comprises of 36 products with major revenue derived from Caustic Soda and therefore any negative market scenario has a wide impact on the Company’s performance.
There are 34 active Caustic Soda units in India with a production capacity of 28.71 Lacs MTPA as against total capacity of 34.46 Lacs MTPA . Capacity production works out to 83.31%. The products of Chlor-Alkali industry are the basic raw materials for various industries like Alumina, Paper & Pulp, Soaps & Detergents, Pharmaceuticals, Dyes, Pesticides, Water Treatment etc. The additional capacity expansion during the financial year was approximately 0.16 Lacs MTPA in India mainly because of expansion of existing facilities . However, due to fall in global EDC prices , major Indian producers opted to import EDC which is the key input in the production of Poly Vinyl Chloride (PVC). Most of the plants are integrated in such a way that part of finished product of one plant is consumed as a raw material in other plant so it enjoys some leverage over its competitors due to its integration philosophy. Gujarat is predominantly an industrial state which contains a number of large, medium & small businesses units in the Chemical, Petrochemical, Plastics, Textile and Fertiliser sectors . GACL also exports some of its products like Caustic Soda and Potassium Hydroxide Flakes, Hydrogen Peroxide, Liquid Chlorine, Aluminum Chloride, PAC, Hydrochloric Acid to Europe, South East Asia, Africa, Middle East and other SAARC countries .
Rajiv Kapoor is a share broker, certified mutual fund expert and MDRT insurance agent.