After years of delays and a cost that has almost doubled since it was first conceived, the Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs (CCEA), chaired by PM Narendra Modi, approved a revised project cost of ₹79,459 crore for HPCL Rajasthan Refinery Limited (HRRL), up from the original estimate of ₹43,129 crore.
Along with the cost revision, Centre also cleared an additional equity infusion of ₹8,962 crore by HPCL, taking the company’s total equity stake in the project to ₹19,600 crore.
Located in Pachpadra, Balotra district, Rajasthan, HRRL is a 9-million-metric-tonnes-per-annum (MMTPA) greenfield refinery-cum-petrochemical complex, jointly owned by HPCL and the Government of Rajasthan.
HPCL has a 74 per cent stake in it, while the remaining 26 per cent belongs to the Rajasthan government. It is one of the most complex refineries in India, with more than 26 product lines, including petrochemicals.
When fully operational, it will produce 1 MMTPA of petrol, 4 MMTPA of diesel, 1 MMTPA of polypropylene, 0.5 MMTPA each of LLDPE and HDPE, and roughly 0.4 MMTPA of benzene, toluene and butadiene, which are raw materials for everything from plastics to pharmaceuticals and paints.
The Scheduled Commercial Operation Date (SCOD) is now set for July 1, 2026. The project has had a troubled timeline: the original completion deadline was October 2022, and the refinery missed subsequent targets of December 2025 and January 2026. During construction, roughly 25,000 workers were reportedly employed on the site.
The refinery will utilise Mangala crude, which is produced locally from Barmer's own oilfields, and it looks to reduce India’s dependence on Middle East crude at a time when the Iran war has made those imports both riskier and costlier.
In and around Rajasthan, a local refinery also means more stable fuel supplies, potentially lower transport costs for petrol and diesel, and cheaper inputs for the plastic packaging, pharma and auto parts sectors.
