The increase resulted mainly due to an expansion in installed capacity. During the year, capacity was enhanced to 75.58 lakh tonne from 63.15 lakh tonne in 1998-99.

The Government implemented two new petrochemical projects during 1999-2000. The UP petrochemicals complex at Auriya, commissioned in March '99, has a capacity to produce 3,00,000 tonne per annum (tpa) of ethylene and 1,00,000 tpa of high density polyethylene (HDPE). Its swing plant has the capacity to produce 1,60,000 tpa of HDPE and LLDPE.

During April 1999-2000, public sector Indian Petrochemicals Ltd (IPCL) implemented the expansion of its existing gas cracker capacity from 3,00,000 tpa to 4,00,000 tpa and HDPE and LLDPE swing plant capacity from 1,60,000 tpa to 2,20,000 tpa. According to the performance budget of the department of chemicals and petrochemicals, the Indian petrochemicals industry is one of the fastest growing sectors in the economy with its growth rate much higher than that of overall industry. With a number of projects in the pipeline, the department is hopeful that the growth would continue in the coming years.

IPCL is implementing a gas cracker project at Gandhar in Gujarat, with an ethylene capacity of 3,00,000 tpa. In the first phase, the company has implemented 1,50,000 tpa of polyvinyl chloride and caustic soda and in the second phase it has implemented 1,60,000 tpa of HDPE. The entire project is expected to be completed soon.

Another project which is slated to be completed within a short period is the Haldia petrochemicals complex which is a joint sector project between the West Bengal Industrial Development Corporation, the Tata's and Chatterjee Petrochem, an NRI group. The project includes 4,20,000 tpa of ethylene besides capacities for other downstream products like HDPE, LLDPE and polyproplene.

A letter of intent has been granted to Assam Industrial Development Corporation (AIDC) for setting up of a gas cracker complex with ethylene capacity of 3,00,000 tpa. The project which will be implemented by Reliance Assam Petrochemicals Ltd (RAPL), a joint venture between the state government and Reliance Industries, will be located at Tengaghat in Dibrugarh district of Assam. The Centre has already approved a one time capital subsidy of Rs 377 crore for the project and an infrastructure subsidy of Rs 72 crore to Oil India Ltd (OIL). A provision has been made to supply associated gas at Rs 600 per thousand cubic meter for a period of 15 years. The project, however, is yet to take off due to non-finalisation of Gas Supply Agreement between RAPL and OIL.

Then there are a number of projects which have been issued letters of intent but are likely to be implemented only during the tenth five year plan period of 2002-2007 as they are still in the planning stage.

One such project is the naptha cracker project at Payal in Ludhiana district of Punjab with a production capacity of 3,00,000 tpa of ethylene. Joint sector partner for the project is yet to be identifiedNaptha cracker projects have also been given clearance at Mangalore, Karnataka, at Jamnagar in Gujarat, at Sagar in Madhya Pradesh and at Kasardog district in Kerala.

The Bharat Petroleum Corporation Ltd has also been issued a letter of intent for setting up a petrochemical complex based on naptha cracker with 5 lakh tpa capacity. The project is proposed to be set up in a coastal region of Tamil Nadu.