Like Indian Bank, this, too, is an iconic name. It is indeed refreshing to see this one make a strong return. SPIC (Souther Petrochemical Industries Corporation) was promoted in late 1960s as the first joint sector firm in Tamil Nadu with the state-owned TIDCO holding 26 per cent stake and the private promoter M A Chidambaram group, 25 per cent. It ran sans any hiccup for over two decades. Problems began in the late 80s when the government appointed their nominee as chairman for a majority stake held by TIDCO. This meant MAC had to quit the chairman post. Subsequently, his son A C Muthiah managed to increase the group’s holdings in the company with TIDCO diluting its stake by renouncing its shares in the rights issue. This stirred quite a controversy. Problems were far from over for SPIC. However, it had to encounter hurdles on another front, too. Its aromatics project with substantial debt burden was grounded with public sector MRL – now CPCL – stalling its bid to go alone through SPIC Petro. Also, its investment in the Dubai fertiliser project did not take off. More importantly, SPIC also suffered due to non-availability of naphtha, a critical input for fertilizer manufacturing, from IOC. It could not import it. The government policy then favoured using the low-cost natural gas. With Ashwin C Muthiah stepping in, things appear to have turned around. He restructured the operations and management of SPIC and group companies and completed debt resolution with financial institutions and banks. SPIC started using gas through a pipeline and achieved a turnaround and is now going in for expansion of DAP and urea capacities. A combination of factors, including the government’s thrust on agriculture, has come a long way in helping SPIC to regain its yester-year glory. Ashwin and his daughters are overseeing the group’s work from London with a professional team firmly in place here.
