India's First Port-Based e-Methanol Plant Comes Up at Kandla

India's first port-based e-methanol production facility will be built at the Deendayal Port Authority (DPA) in Kandla, Gandhidham, Gujarat. Its foundation stone was laid on 26 September 2026 at the DPA Exhibition Ground by Gujarat Chief Minister Bhupendra Patel, Union Minister of Ports, Shipping and Waterways Sarbananda Sonowal and Assam Chief Minister Dr Himanta Biswa Sarma. The plant is meant to make India a seller of clean fuel to the world's shipping lines.

What the plant will produce

The facility will make 150 tonnes of e-methanol every day. Renewable electricity, water and carbon dioxide drawn from biological sources will be combined to produce the fuel, which lets ships burn something far cleaner than conventional bunker oil. The fuel will be sold to vessels sailing the Asia-Europe International Trade Corridor, among the busiest sea routes anywhere. Because of cheap renewable power and port-side supply, green methanol from Kandla is expected to cost only 750 US dollars a tonne, against a world price of about 1,300 US dollars a tonne.

Cost, phases and partners

• Total investment: 2,300 crore rupees
• Phase I: 50 tonnes a day for 1,200 crore rupees, to be ready by January 2027
• Phase II: a further 100 tonnes a day for 1,100 crore rupees, targeted for March 2027
• Partners: Deendayal Port Authority and Namrup-based Assam Petro-Chemicals Limited, sharing capital in the ratio 76:24
• Jobs: more than 3,500 direct and indirect

The port authority is putting in equity of 567.32 crore rupees along with 75 acres of land, desalinated water and renewable energy supplied as green hydrogen. The unit will be built as scalable modules and will rank among the largest e-methanol works in the country. It is expected to pull in transport, storage and supply businesses around Kandla, creating a whole green-molecule value chain in Kutch.

Why it matters

The project supports the national promise of reaching net zero emissions by 2070 and the goal of a developed India by 2047. The government plans to add 100 new ships to the merchant fleet over the next five years and wants India among the world's top five ship-owning nations by 2047. Shipping major Maersk has begun ordering containers built in India. At the same port authority, a shipbuilding project with Cochin Shipyard Limited at Vadinar worth 1,520 crore rupees is under way, and a greenfield shipbuilding and repair cluster proposed at Kuchhadi in Porbandar has received in-principle approval. Mr Sonowal said Kandla would grow into a green-fuel hub on the Singapore-Rotterdam route and serve as a model for every major Indian port.