The expansion comes as the company battles cheap Chinese imports while positioning itself as a key supplier to India’s ambitious 300 GW solar power target, where soda ash is a key raw material for solar glass manufacturing.
“Almost all the major formalities have been completed, environment clearance has been granted, a large portion of the land has already been purchased,” GHCL Managing Director RS Jalan told PTI in an exclusive interview.
He said, “At present we have not started its physical activity, but hopefully in the next 6 to 7 months we will be able to start this activity.” The two-phase expansion will add 1.1 million tonnes to the existing 1.2 million tonnes capacity. The new facility will have a large concentrated soda ash plant specifically designed for the solar glass segment.
“If you look at 119 gigawatt to 300 gigawatt, it is a huge opportunity and the entire project that we are envisaging will mostly be used for solar glass because we are putting in a very large capacity of dense plant,” Jalan said.
He said the new plant will include advanced technology to ensure high energy efficiency and environmental sustainability. The company plans to finance the mega capex through a mix of debt and equity, leveraging its debt-free status and strong balance sheet with cash reserves of around Rs 1,000 crore. “We are going to finance this entire project by debt and equity. And the debt will never be more than 0.6 to 0.7 times the equity. So, we will be very well funded and we don’t see any risk in it,” Jalan said. The expansion comes at a crucial time as India grapples with 20 per cent import dependence on soda ash, despite Gujarat accounting for 95 per cent of domestic production. China, which accounts for 45 per cent of global capacity, has increased exports, squeezing margins for local players operating at almost 100 per cent utilisation.
GHCL is urging the Commerce Ministry to impose anti-dumping duty on imports from China and other countries. The existing minimum import price regime on soda ash has been extended till December 31, 2025. However, Jalan remains optimistic about domestic demand absorption.
“This demand growth in India is likely to be quite high. I think this 1 million tonne plant will definitely be able to absorb the growth in demand for soda ash,” he said.
To hedge against instability, GHCL is diversifying into bromine and vacuum salt production. The vacuum salt plant powered by waste energy at almost zero cost is set to begin operations by January 2025.
“The vacuum salt that we’re producing is going to reduce our costs because we’re using waste energy. So it’s going to be a green vacuum salt,” Jalan said. Bromine production will begin at 2,800 tonnes, leveraging existing infrastructure. GHCL is ahead of its pledge of 30 per cent carbon reduction by 2030. The new plant will benchmark below global emissions standards, include AI-driven efficiency and waste coke substitution.
“In our existing plant, we have achieved 30 per cent carbon reduction over the next five years and we are ahead of target. The new greenfield project will be a completely modern plant, with much lower carbon emissions than existing conventional plants,” Jalan said.
Exports will be limited to 10-15 per cent of production, with a focus on reducing the million-tonne import bill and promoting Make in India. Short-term prospects remain weak following the recent annual maintenance shutdown of its soda ash plant from September 26 to October 12.
“There will be no volume growth this year. And because of this oversupply situation, we are not expecting any significant improvement in margins,” Jalan cautioned. However, medium-term soda ash demand is expected to grow 6.5-7 percent annually on green energy tailwinds.
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