India's two PSU sector companies – Coal India Limited and Bharat Heavy Electricals Limited (BHEL) have signed a joint venture agreement on 28 February. Through this joint venture (JV), the company plans to set up an ammonium nitrate plant through the surface coal gasification (SCG-surface coal gasification) technology route.
In the information given to the exchanges, BHEL said that 51 percent stake in this joint venture will be with Coal India Limited (CIL) and 49 percent stake will be with BHEL. BHEL and CIL can nominate three members each on the board of the company (JVC). The Joint Venture Company will be incorporated as a 'Private Limited' company with an initial paid-up share capital of Rs 1 lakh. The registered office of this JV company will be in Odisha.
This joint venture is being opened to start chemical business from coal. For this, initially a 2000 TPD ammonium nitrate plant will be set up from coal using PFBG (Pressurized Fluidized Bed Gasification) technology developed by BHEL. FMC projects will reduce Coal India's dependence on road traffic for transportation of dry fuel (coal).