CPCL refinery in Nagapattinam, Saint-Gobain plant in Sriperumpudur cleared

Less than 10 days after clearing proposals of 13 companies to invest Rs. 16,000 crore, the State Cabinet on Thursday cleared an additional 17 proposals from public sector and private companies for investments to the tune of Rs. 32,000 crore.

The Cabinet, which met under the leadership of Chief Minister Edappadi K Palaniswami at the Secretariat, also approved structured financial incentive packages for the applicant companies. The clearances have been given ahead of the second edition of the Global Investors Meet (GIM) scheduled for January 23 and 24.

According to government sources, a major project that was approved was a refinery to be set up by Chennai Petroleum Corporation Limited (CPCL) in Nagapattinam with a capacity of nine million tonnes per year. The company plant to pump in Rs. 27,000 crore into the project. Sources said the projects would cumulatively generate 36,000 direct employment opportunities.

Another investment proposal that was cleared is by glass manufacturer Saint-Gobain to expand its plant at Sriperumpudur at a cost of Rs. 600 crore. Lakshmi Machine Works has got the green signal to launch an auto components manufacturing unit in Coimbatore while Wheels India will expand its existing plan in Padi in Chennai. Birla Carbon will set up a new plant for manufacturing electrodes, sources said.

One interesting investment proposed is by edible oil producer Kaleeswari Refinery Private Limited. The company is planning diversification into bio-diesel. “The company is planning to import palm leaves and extract diesel,” official sources said.

Together, all these projects, including the ones that were cleared in the last Cabinet meeting, would bring in an investment of Rs. 50,000 crore and create 50,000 jobs.