Calcutta: Violent protest at Sterlite's Tamil Nadu plant that left 10 people dead in May has forced India's largest carbon black producer to review its plan to set up base in the southern state.

Calcutta-based Phillips Carbon Black Ltd (PCBL), which has the requisite land in its possession for a Rs 600-crore project at Ennore, said it would explore alternative locations in Telangana and Andhra Pradesh.

"Sterlite makes us nervous... We cannot compromise with the health of the project in the long term," Sanjiv Goenka, chairman of PCBL, said.

Thoothukodi, formerly Tuticorin, where Sterlite had a copper smelter, is located 600 kilometres south of Ennore.

Asked if the protests over environment concerns has caused the re-think given that carbon black is often said to be a polluting industry, Goenka differed.

"You can go to any of our existing plants. They are as clean as they get. I'm not worried about that. It is the way the local administration (at Tamil Nadu) handled the situation," Goenka said.

Shashawat Goenka, director of PCBL and the scion of RP-SG Group which his father Sanjiv heads, will meet Telangana minister K. T. Rama Rao next week to discuss the possibilities.

PCBL clarified that it has not fully dumped Tamil Nadu but "looking with intent" at other possible locations. "It is not about doing fast but doing right. We will decide on the new location by September," Goenka added.

The reconsideration could delay PCBL's expansion by a few months even as the company was going to complete capacity addition to the existing units by the end of this fiscal.

The Mundra plant will add 56,000 tonnes by November, while the capacity of Palej will go up 32,000 tonnes.

The new plant, which is expected to cater to increased demand from tyre makers who are also building additional capacities in south India, will be a 1,50,000-tonne plant.

Strong numbers

After posting its best-ever profits in 2017-18, PCBL started on a strong note in the first quarter of this fiscal, too.

Sales are up 22 per cent to Rs 784.61 crore, while profits jumped 103 per cent to Rs 97.54 per cent year-on-year.

Debt went down Rs 100 crore in the April-June quarter of 2018-19.

Goenka said the company might launch a share sale by qualified institutional placement once the volatility in midcap stocks comes down to reduce its long-term debt.