Petro Carbon expects to commission 48,000-TPA Haldia plant this year

Petro Carbon and Chemicals Limited expects to commission a 48,000-tonnes-per-annum electrically calcined anthracite project at Haldia during the year, according to financial-results notes dated November 5, 2026. The planned facility would add electrically calcined anthracite to Petro Carbon’s existing calcined petroleum coke manufacturing business.

What is Petro Carbon building at Haldia?

Petro Carbon is setting up an electrically calcined anthracite, or ECA, project with capacity of 48,000 tonnes per annum, or TPA, at Haldia. The company disclosed the capacity and location in the notes to its unaudited standalone results for the half year ended September 30, 2026.

ECA is distinct from the product Petro Carbon identifies as its current operating business. The filing says Petro Carbon manufactures calcined petroleum coke, or CPC, and treats that activity as its only reportable segment under Accounting Standard 17, which governs segment reporting.

The November 5, 2026 filing provides no project cost, funding split, customer commitments, expected revenue contribution or utilisation target for the 48,000-TPA facility. It also does not state a precise commissioning date within the year or specify the year-end that applies to the stated timeline.

When does Petro Carbon expect the ECA plant to start?

Petro Carbon expects to commission the 48,000-TPA Haldia ECA project during the year. That wording is an expectation disclosed in the financial-results notes rather than confirmation that commercial production had begun by September 30, 2026.

Petro Carbon’s board approved the unaudited standalone financial results for the half year ended September 30, 2026 at its meeting on November 5, 2026. The same notes say the results were reviewed by the audit committee, while the statutory auditors reviewed them under Regulation 33 of the Securities and Exchange Board of India Listing Obligations and Disclosure Requirements Regulations, 2015.

The filing does not separate the Haldia project within capital work-in-progress, or CWIP, meaning projects under development. Standalone CWIP stood at Rs 76.85 crore on September 30, 2026, compared with Rs 56.39 crore on March 31, 2026, an increase of Rs 20.46 crore over the six-month period.

How did Petro Carbon’s investment and borrowings change?

Petro Carbon’s standalone investment in property, plant and equipment and CWIP was Rs 27.74 crore in the six months ended September 30, 2026. This cash-flow line covers property, plant and equipment and CWIP together, so the filing does not attribute the spending solely to the 48,000-TPA ECA project.

Standalone tangible property, plant and equipment rose to Rs 165.80 crore at September 30, 2026 from Rs 162.10 crore at March 31, 2026. Together with the Rs 20.46 crore rise in CWIP, the disclosed balance-sheet movement indicates a larger amount recorded in operating fixed assets and work under development at the half-year date.

Long-term borrowings increased to Rs 110.55 crore at September 30, 2026 from Rs 95.66 crore at March 31, 2026, while short-term borrowings declined to Rs 82.02 crore from Rs 103.58 crore. Petro Carbon reported Rs 13.44 crore of term-loan proceeds or net repayment movement in financing cash flows for the six months, without identifying a link to Haldia.

What were Petro Carbon’s latest standalone financial results?

Petro Carbon reported standalone revenue from operations of Rs 343.72 crore for the half year ended September 30, 2026, up from Rs 260.40 crore in the corresponding half year ended September 30, 2025. Profit after tax was Rs 48.26 crore, compared with Rs 2.93 crore a year earlier.

The half-year revenue exceeded the Rs 316.25 crore reported for the half year ended March 31, 2026 by Rs 27.47 crore. Profit after tax also rose from Rs 22.47 crore in that immediately preceding half-year period, although the March 2026 comparative was presented as audited and the September 2026 figure as unaudited.

Petro Carbon’s profit before tax was Rs 64.60 crore for the September 2026 half year, compared with Rs 3.51 crore a year earlier. Cost of materials consumed rose to Rs 265.00 crore from Rs 230.67 crore, while finance costs fell to Rs 5.51 crore from Rs 9.68 crore over the same comparison.

What does the filing show about Petro Carbon’s working capital?

Petro Carbon’s standalone inventories rose to Rs 153.41 crore on September 30, 2026 from Rs 106.24 crore on March 31, 2026. Its cash-flow statement records a Rs 47.17 crore increase in inventories during the half year, which was a use of cash from operations.

Trade receivables declined to Rs 82.01 crore at September 30, 2026 from Rs 84.02 crore six months earlier. Trade payables due to micro and small enterprises increased to Rs 21.32 crore from Rs 9.83 crore, while amounts due to other parties rose to Rs 38.86 crore from Rs 36.66 crore.

Net cash from operating activities was Rs 39.04 crore for the half year ended September 30, 2026, compared with Rs 4.51 crore for the year ended March 31, 2026. After Rs 27.53 crore of investing cash outflow and Rs 12.18 crore of financing cash outflow, standalone cash and cash equivalents ended the period at Rs 6.47 crore, versus Rs 7.54 crore at March 31, 2026.

Conclusion

Petro Carbon’s disclosed 48,000-TPA ECA project at Haldia is a planned addition to a business that the company currently reports as a single CPC manufacturing segment. The September 2026 half-year results showed revenue of Rs 343.72 crore and profit after tax of Rs 48.26 crore, while CWIP rose by Rs 20.46 crore from March 2026.

The next disclosed milestone is commissioning of the Haldia project during the year. A subsequent Petro Carbon update would be needed to confirm commissioning or commercial production and to disclose project expenditure, capacity utilisation or separate financial information for ECA, none of which was provided in the November 5, 2026 filing.