Bharat Petroleum Corporation (BPCL), on 20 December, announced its plans to set up a polypropylene unit at its Kochi refinery.

In its regulatory filing, the company said, “The company board at its meeting held on 19 December, 2023 has approved a proposal for setting up a polypropylene (PP) unit, for production of polypropylene at Kochi refinery, at a gross project cost of Rs 5,044 crore.”

The capacity expansion will add 400 kilo tonnes per annum of Polypropylene, which will take around 46 months to commission from the date of investment approval.

The petrochemical segment in India is expanding at a rapid growth considering rapid growth due to strong market demand, and the availability of Propylene feedstock provides the company’s Kochi Refinery with the opportunity to produce Polypropylene that has wide applications in downstream industries such as packaging films, containers, sheet boxes, homecare, homeware, personal care, and articles of day-to-day usage.

On 8 December, the company entered into a collaboration with Tata Passenger Electric Mobility Ltd for setting up 7,000 charging stations across India.

Earlier in November, the company had declared an interim dividend of Rs 21 per share for the current fiscal year.