Thaindian News

Kolkata, July 11 (IANS) Attempting a turnaround, cash-strapped Haldia Petrochemicals Ltd (HPL) is planning to increase its production to 240 tonnes per hour and will perform a technical audit to increase its productivity.

“We held a meeting today to explore the possibilities of increasing productivity of HPL. We are in talks with the lenders so that financial support can come. HPL board has informed the lenders of its plan,” West Bengal Industry Minister Partha Chatterjee said here Wednesday.

Chatterjee, who is also the chairman of HPL, said the firm was planning to produce 240 tonnes per hour (tph) from 180 tph.

“Earlier, 140 tph was the productivity against a capacity of 250 tph. It is currently at 180 tph and we are looking to increase it to 220 tph soon. The target is to reach 240 tph,” he informed.

HPL is the second largest maker of polyethylene in India and co-promoted by the West Bengal government and The Chatterjee Group(TCG). The company currently has an accumulated loss of more than Rs.1,200 billion against a peak net worth of Rs.28.44 billion, while the total debt is around Rs.37 billion.

The minister said the firm would also carry out a technical audit to increase the productivity and maintenance of equipment.

He said the company, the largest petrochemical firm in eastern India, was targeting an EBIDTA of Rs.20 crore in July.

“By purchasing more naphtha, we can increase production and lower our cash loss. At the beginning of the year the cash loss was Rs.400 crore and it has gone down to Rs.260 crore,” Chatterjee said.

Earlier, a State Bank of India (SBI) representative, leading the consortium of lenders, had stated that banks had their own constraints and limitations to fund the company.