Coromandel International, which is mainly in the fertiliser business, will invest Rs 1,000 crore to set up a plant to produce phosphoric and sulphuric acid at Kakinada in Andhra Pradesh.

In a regulatory filing, the company said it has "commenced the project activity to set up its Phosphoric Acid-Sulphuric Acid complex facility at Kakinada".

The company's Executive Chairman Arun Alagappan participated in the groundbreaking ceremony on April 26.

"With an estimated outlay of Rs 1,000 crore, the project is expected to be commissioned in two years' time. The proposed 650 tonnes per day (tpd) phosphoric acid facility is designed with advanced DA-HF (Dihydrate Attack-Hemihydrate Filtration) process technology and automated DCS system," it said.

This will enhance backward integration capacities and provide stable supplies of phosphoric acid for its fertiliser manufacturing by replacing more than 50 per cent of the Kakinada plant's imported acid requirement.

The company also plans to set up a 1,800 TPD sulphuric acid plant to meet the captive needs in phosphoric acid manufacturing besides augmenting power from the waste heat generation.