Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister YS Jagan Mohan Reddy and Aditya Birla Group Chairman Kumar Mangalam Birla, inaugurated Grasim Industries Limited’s chlor-alkali manufacturing site at Balabhadrapuram in East Godavari district on Thursday.

This chlor-alkali plant is the largest single-location manufacturing unit of caustic soda. Aditya Birla Group has invested Rs 1,000 crore on the plant initially. It plans to make a total investment of Rs 2,500 crore on the plant in three phases. The plant will provide direct and indirect employment to 2,450 people and of the total workforce, 75% will be locals.

Speaking on the occasion, Birla said the inauguration of the chlor-alkali plant heralds a new beginning. “It will further strengthen the bond of Aditya Birla Group with the entrepreneurial State of AP,” he said adding that this is an important milestone in the group’s chemical business.

The unit at Balabhadrapuram is the eighth manufacturing site of chlor-alkali of the group and has a potential to emerge as the single largest location of chlor-alkali production in the country with a capacity of 1,50,000 tonnes per annum, he said and added that given the scale of operation, he hopes to build a world-class chemicals ecosystem in the state what will have a multiplier effect on the local economy. It will also strengthen the east-west corridor for chlor-alkali business, he added.

“Grasim took over the ailing caustic soda manufacturing unit in 2019, which for nearly a decade had been facing problems. The previous TDP government gave its consent without resolving the problems and convincing people in the region, who had misapprehensions about the project. It was our government, which resolved the problems, convinced the management not to install captive thermal power plant, adopt zero liquid waste concept, go for electrolysis and other advanced technologies. By incorporating such measures, we succeeded in allying fears of locals and most importantly we convinced Birlas to provide 75% of jobs to locals,” Reddy said.