A group of non-resident Indians has zeroed in on areas around Haldia and Vishakhapatnam for setting up two petrochemical conclaves.
"Petrochemical players like DuPont and Dow Chemicals have shown interest in the development of these complexes," said a Planning Commission official. The conclaves, which are expected to come up over 5,000 acre of land, are part of a plan to develop five such areas in the country.
The group of NRIs, which was set up at the behest of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh during his visit to New York last year, included Pepsico President Indra Nooyi, Citigroup senior vice- chairman Victor Menezes, former Managing Director McKinsey & Co Rajat Gupta and venture capitalists Vinod Khosla and Parag Saxena.
The Planning Commission is in the process of setting up a task force to suggest ways to finalise the proposal.
The group of NRIs has identified Infrastructure Development Finance Company and IL&FS for undertaking due-diligence of the two sites. The group was also in talks with developers from Singapore and West Asia to develop the petrochemical projects, government officials said.
Last month, the group was in India for preliminary discussions. It met Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Y S R Reddy and West Bengal Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee besides senior officials from the two states, officials said.
The officials said no fiscal sops had been sought from the government. "The idea is to develop world-class infrastructure with the NRI group acting as a facilitator to get big players with deep pockets to invest in the country," officials added.
While big players can set up the conclave, smaller players and ancillary units can pitch in to derive backward and forward linkages. "There should be one anchor tenant and once the tenant is in place, other players will follow," officials said.
