Nayara Energy has announced that it will commence operations of a new polypropylene plant in the first half of next year, marking its entry into the lucrative petrochemical sector.

With wide applications in segments like packaging, automotive applications, consumer durables and lifestyle products, the demand for polypropylene (PP) is projected to rise.

In the last financial year (April 2022 to March 2023), India's consumption of polypropylene stood at 6.4 million tonnes, of which around 1.6 million tonnes or around 25 per cent was imported.

"Nayara is well on track for its entry into the petrochemicals sector with its upcoming 4,50,000 tonnes per annum polypropylene plant expected to be commercially operational during H1 2024 - when Nayara expects the demand to accelerate and margins to kick in," the firm said.

Nayara said it will be the first polypropylene (PP) producer in the country using the latest phthalate-free catalyst for the entire PP production. Phthalate-free grades will provide cleaner PP for pharma, health and hygiene applications.