Indorama Industries have requested the Department of Chemicals and Petrochemicals (DCPC) for basic customs duty reduction on basic raw materials PTMEG and MDI in the manufacture of Spandex from 7.5 per cent to 2 per cent.

In a letter to DCPC, Indorama submitted the request for correction of import duty structure of Spandex (HS Code 54024400 and 54041100) and its raw materials polytetramethylene ether glycol (PTMEG) and diphenlmethane 4, 4-isocyanate (MDI).

Indorama is setting up the first plant in India at Baddi in Himachal Pradesh with an investment of Rs 300 crore to produce 5,000 tonnes of Spandex annually.

The firm said that civil construction has already started and machinery imports have been ordered and paid.

The plant is likely to be commissioned in the next fiscal. Subsequently, it will be expanding the capacity in stages to about 15,000 TPA by 2015 with an additional capital investment of Rs 500-600 crore.

The firm also called for reduction of import duty on Spandex to 5 per cent.

At present, there is no manufacturer of Spandex yarn in India and the entire demand of the chemical industry is met through imports from the US, Germany, Taiwan, Korea and China, which involves huge outflow of foreign exchange.

Spandex, a combination of multi-synthetic filament yarn, is manufactured through polymerisation process of PTMEG, MDI and other solvents.

The extruded dope of raw materials is supplied to the winders through spinning tubes and spinning nozzles of different sizes where multi-fibres are gathered and twisted in the air jet nozzle and wound on paper tubes with application of finishing oil to avoid sticking and obtain smoothness.