CIL, BHEL form JV for coal-to-chemical biz; Board of Directors includes these people

New Delhi: State-run Coal India Limited (CIL) and Bharat Heavy Electricals Limited (BHEL) have incorporated a joint venture company, Bharat Coal Gasification & Chemicals Limited (BCGCL), on Tuesday, which marks the foray of these two PSUs into coal-to-chemical business. Coal India and BHEL had signed a joint venture agreement (JVA) in February this year for setting up India’s first commercial-scale ammonium nitrate plant through surface coal gasification (SCG) technology route. The plant, which will be set up by this JV company, will not only be India’s first commercial coal gasification project, it will also be the first to commercialise an indigenously-developed coal gasification technology devised by BHEL.

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“This has reference to our communication No. CIL:XI(D):4156/4157:2024 dated 28.04.24 w.r.t JV Agreement between Coal India Limited and Bharat Heavy Electricals Limited to engage in the business of coal gasification to produce syn-gas, Ammonia & Nitric acid as intermediate products and Ammonium Nitrate as end product,” said CIL in a regulatory filing to the stock exchanges on Tuesday.

Bharat Coal Gasification & Chemicals Limited (BCGCL)

Bharat Coal Gasification & Chemicals Limited has been incorporated as a Private Limited Company on May 21. It is a joint venture company in which CIL holds 51 percent and BHEL holds 49 percent equity. The authorised capital of this company is Rs 11 crore and paid-up capital is Rs 1 lakh. Coal India told the bourses that the objective of the company is “To engage into the business of coal gasification to produce syn-gas, Ammonia & Nitric acid as intermediate products and Ammonium Nitrate as end product.” The decision has also received a nod from Niti Aayog and the Department of Investment and Public Asset Management (DIPAM).

The company will be based in Jharsuguda district of Odisha. PSU Watch has learnt from sources that Coal Videsh & International Cooperation Division (CV&IC) of Coal India will be the nodal department for the JV company.

Who is part of Board of Directors?

According to sources who spoke to PSU Watch on the condition of anonymity, the JV company will have a Chairman from Coal India Ltd and Vice-Chairman from BHEL for the next three years. The Managing Director (MD) of the JV will come from CIL, while Director (Finance) will come from BHEL for a period of five years, said sources.

From Coal India, Debasish Nanda, Director (Business Development), Peeyush Kumar, General Manager (Business Development) and Sanjay Kumar Jha, General Manager (Lakhanpur Area), are nominated to be part of the Board of Directors, PSU Watch has learnt. From BHEL, Jai Prakash Srivastava, Director (E, R&D), S Prabhakar, Executive Director and Swapan Kumar Bhattacharya, General Manager (Corporate Finance), have been nominated for the board, said sources.

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