Indian Oil Corp and French energy giant Total have set up an equal joint venture to manufacture and market bitumen derivatives and specialty products for the Indian road-building industry.
“The operations of the joint venture company would commence by taking over an existing plant of Total at Jodhpur. It would also set up six new greenfield plants at Panipat, Koyali, Haldia, Barauni, Visakhapatnam and Chennai in the first four years. The investment planned towards these new plants is about Rs. 226 crores,” Indian Oil Chairman S M Vaidya said in a press statement. The JV will also explore the possibility of catering to other South Asian markets.
The demand for aggregate material and manufactured material for the highway construction and rehabilitation sector in India is very high, especially for good-quality bitumen derivatives, the statement said.
Indian Oil is the largest player in the Indian bitumen market, while Total is the leading bitumen manufacturer and supplier in Europe, per the statement.
Source: Economic Times