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Heubach plans dioxin lab at Ankleshwar

Our Bureau

MUMBAI, March 26

HEUBACH Colour Ltd, part of the Heubach group of companies in Europe, plans to invest up to $400,000 in setting up a dioxin research facility at Ankleshwar in Gujarat. The research lab is expected to come up in the next six months.

The organic pigments manufacturer, which has plans for further investments in research and development in the country, plans to double its capacity from the current 4,000 tonnes to 8,000 tonnes within the next four years, according to Mr Rainer Heubach, President, Heubach.

``We have plans to invest $40 million in India over a seven-year period. Of which half the amount has already been ploughed in,'' Mr Heubach said.

The company was planning a recruitment drive to hire professionals specialising in the inks and paints industry over the next four months, said Mr Ravi Kapoor, Managing Director of the Indian arm.

Heubach, a 100 per cent export oriented unit, recently set up a plant to convert aluminium chloride - a waste product from its plant - into aluminium hydroxide, which is the basic raw material to manufacture antacids.

The company has tied up with Searle India Ltd to sell the product within the country. ``We have also exported aluminium hydroxide to West Asia, proving that eco-friendliness is also economical,'' Mr Heubach said.

The company entered into an outsourcing contract with Avecia UK, the erstwhile Zeneca Ltd in August 2000. It has also tied up with Bertrans Chemical Plant Ltd, Switzerland, for transfer of Loprox process, a technology patented by Bayer AG. A demonstratio n plant will be established at Ankleshwar.

Heubach India expects a turnover of Rs 100 crore for 2001. The company expects an average 40 per cent growth rate per annum.

Heubach's growth, however, may slow down because of a High Court order restricting growth of chemical companies in Ankleshwar due to environmental problems.

``But there may be a solution in the offing, with an effluent pipeline being built by units there to carry waste material from the area to the ocean,'' said Mr Ravi Kapoor.