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THIRUVANANTHAPURAM, Nov. 23

THE state-owned Travancore Titanium Products Ltd (TTP), the leading manufacturer of anatase grade titanium dioxide in the country, is sitting on a pile of unsold stocks worth Rs 26 crore.

Heavy taxation combined with large-scale import of the product from China are the main reasons for the plight of the company, according to Mr K.P. Shankaradas, President of the TTP Employees Union.

He told newspersons here that while the company could sell 1,300 tonnes of titanium dioxide in October, the offtake till date in the current month was only 160 tonnes.

Following the cut in the import duty on titanium dioxide, China has been exporting large quantities of the product to India and selling it at a much lower price than that of TTP. While the Chinese product was available at Rs 62,000 per tonne in the Mumbai market, TTP's product was being sold at Rs 87,000 per tonne, he said.

TTP's product was also uncompetitive vis-à-vis other domestic manufactures of titanium dioxide such as Kilburn, and this was mainly owing to the "double taxation" that TTP was being subjected to, courtesy the Kerala State Industrial Products Trading Company (KSIPTC) acting as the marketing intermediary for the company, Mr Shankaradas said.

While the other private sector companies were paying a total of Rs 10,200 per tonne as taxes, TTP was paying Rs 18,000, he pointed out. This anomaly could be rectified to a large extent if the marketing intermediary was done away with, he said.

Besides, the company should bring down the cost of production by accepting the offer of all the employees who had applied for voluntary retirement.

Also, new appointments should be kept in abeyance till the company overcame the difficulties it had been facing, he said.

He also warned that the Rs 110-crore project aimed at checking water pollution would lead to the collapse of the company. Instead, the management should think of implementing the suggestion by the National Institute of Oceanography to carry the effluents 750 metres away into the sea as this would not cost the company much, he said.

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Chinese imports hit Travancore Titanium — Stocks worth Rs 26 cr piled up: Union

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