Reliance launches massive investment program

The Indian conglomerate Reliance Industries plans to invest $9.4 billion in its chemical business over the next 5 years. In a speech at Reliance’s annual meeting on Aug. 29, Chairman Mukesh Ambani said the company would build the world’s largest, single-train purified terephthalic acid plant in Dahej, India. It will have 3 million metric tons (t) of annual capacity when it opens in 2026. At the same time, Reliance will build a downstream polyethylene terephthalate plant with 1 million t of annual capacity and will add polyester fiber and yarn capacity. In addition, Reliance plans to build integrated polyvinyl chloride (PVC) complexes in Dahej and Jamnagar, India, by 2026. It is also building a PVC plant in Ruwais, Abu Dhabi. The company says the projects will make it one of the five largest PVC makers in the world. In Hazira, India, Reliance is building a carbon fiber plant that will have 20,000 t of annual capacity when it opens in 2025. In 2019, Reliance started negotiating the sale of a 20% interest in its chemical and refining business to Saudi Aramco for $15 billion, but the firms abandoned the deal last year.