The Assam Gas Cracker Project (AGCP) was initiated in pursuance of the Memorandum of Settlement signed by the Central Government with the All Assam Students Union (AASU) and All Assam Gana Sangram Parishad (AAGSP) on 15th August, 1985. The AGCP, located at Lepetkata, Dibrugarh dist., was approved by the Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs (CCEA) on 18th April, 2006. A joint venture company, namely M/s Brahmaputra Cracker & Polymer Limited (BCPL), was incorporated on 8th January, 2007 to implement the project. The Project was commissioned on 2nd January, 2016 at a cost of Rs. 9965 crore and was dedicated to the Nation by the Hon’ble Prime Minister, on 5th February, 2016.

The project is the largest petrochemical complex in North-East India. BCPL has also commenced exports of polymers to Bangladesh and Bhutan. The plant employs about 630 permanent employees and engages approximately 2,600 contractual personnel within the complex. In addition, significant local employment has been generated across the value chain through vendors, transporters, suppliers, and ancillary service providers.

To ensure long term viability the project, the CCEA in its meeting held on 24th December 2019 approved the following:

a. Transfer of administrative control of BCPL from D/o C&PC to MoPNG
b. Feedstock subsidy to BCPL for 15 years of plant operation to maintain minimum IRR of 10% (post tax). To bring the IRR to 10%, BCPL has estimated feedstock subsidy of approximately Rs. 4600 crore for the project for 15 years of plant operation as per the approved methodology.
c. MoPNG will make firm arrangements through concerned PSUs for supply of committed quantity and quality of feedstock to the project as envisaged in the CCEA approval of 2006.

The Feedstock Subsidy to BCPL is a Central Sector Scheme of Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas. The yearly subsidy is a function of Polymer price, Gas price and Naphtha price while maintaining minimum post tax IRR of 10%. The methodology for computing yearly subsidy has been approved by the CCEA.

The output of the project is to ensure continuity of the plant operations at average 100% capacity while ensuring fulfillment of the socio-economic objectives. The year-wise output is given below:

As the scheme of feedstock subsidy is for ensuring 10% post tax IRR for the company, the outcome of the scheme are: