Centre's Rs 3,000-Crore Mega Chemical Park Push: At Least 7 States In Race, Andhra Likely To Bid

At least seven states are likely to send proposals to the Centre expressing interest in setting up one of the three chemical parks planned under the Centre’s newly announced Bharat Audyogik Vikas Yojana Rasayan (BHAVYA Rasayan) scheme, with Andhra Pradesh emerging as one of the states that could make a bid, senior officials of department of chemicals and petrochemicals (DCPC) have of told News18. The scheme was announced a fortnight ago to boost the country’s chemical hub infrastructure.

The Centre is expected to formally reach out to states within the next 10 days, seeking proposals and details on land availability, infrastructure and the states’ preparedness to host the mega chemical manufacturing hubs. Talking to News18, Tejveer Singh, secretary,

DCPC said, “Several states are in talks with the concerned department as the scheme has evoked a very positive response.”

The Union Cabinet, which approved the scheme at the end of July, has earmarked Rs 3000 crore for the programme. Three chemical parks will be established across three states, with the centre providing financial support of Rs 1000 crore to each state for developing critical common infrastructure required to create large-scale manufacturing ecosystems. The state, willing to implement the scheme, must provide a matching grant of Rs 500 crore for the project.

The scale of the proposed projects is significant. Each chemical park will require approximately 2000 acres of land, making land availability one of the key criteria that could determine which states eventually make the cut.

“States will be asked to submit proposals. The process of sending the notifications to states will begin within around 10 days,” another senior officer of the ministry said.

The centre is looking at the parks as more than conventional industrial estates. The idea is to create integrated chemical manufacturing hubs with common facilities and infrastructure, helping companies reduce costs while encouraging investment in downstream and value-added chemical production.

Andhra Pradesh is among the states expected to show interest, given its industrial base, availability of large land parcels and existing chemical and petrochemical ecosystem. The state has initiated conversation with the concerned departments, sources added. However, the final list of states that formally submit proposals is yet to emerge.

The competition is expected to intensify once the centre issues its detailed guidelines. States will have to demonstrate not just land availability but also the ability to provide supporting infrastructure, connectivity and an enabling industrial environment.

For the Centre, the chemical parks are part of a larger push to reduce India’s dependence on imports of critical chemical inputs and build domestic manufacturing capacity.

With only three parks to be selected against potentially seven or more interested states, the upcoming proposal process could therefore become a significant test of which states can offer the strongest combination of land, infrastructure and industrial readiness. The Centre’s notification in the coming days is likely to set the ball rolling for another ambitious centre-state industrial project.