1. Cauvery Basin JV refinery - 9 MMTPA greenfield - CPCL holds a 25% stake in the ₹36,354 cr Cauvery Basin Refinery and Petrochemicals JV with IOCL, where land is fully acquired, all four EPCMs are awarded, and site-enabling works are in progress. CPCL’s remaining equity commitment of ₹2,000 cr over 2-3 years adds a second large-scale refinery to its portfolio, with completion targeted within 39 months of receiving statutory approvals.
2. Group II/III LOBS project - margin upgrade - The ₹1,620 cr project to revamp the Hydrocracker and install a Catalytic Dewaxing Unit for 256 TMTPA of Group II/III LOBS has all approvals, including IOCL’s, and execution is underway with a 31-month schedule. It shifts a portion of lower-value HSD into high-margin base oils, lifting the product mix toward premium grades that command better realisations.
3. Retail outlet rollout - downstream integration - CPCL has secured 300 retail marketing licences and earmarked \~₹400 cr to commission outlets, with significant commissioning expected in FY27. Moving from a pure refiner to an integrated refiner-marketer captures the full value chain margin on own-produced MS and HSD.
4. Debottlenecking study - throughput beyond 10.5 MMT - CPCL clocked its highest-ever crude throughput of 11.71 MMT in FY26, operating at 112% of nameplate capacity, and an EIL-led debottlenecking study is due for completion in FY27. Sustaining throughput above rated capacity with low-cost capex would lift volumes and absorption without a new crude unit.
5. Niche chemicals scale-up - Hexane, MTO, Pentane - Pharma-grade hexane capacity was doubled to 60 KTPA, MTO production more than doubled in FY26, and trial runs for pentane and textile-grade MTO have begun. These 7-8% of volumes already contribute \~15% of margins, so expanding the niche slate directly improves the margin profile.
6. Delayed Coker Unit ramp-up - yield gain - DCU utilisation rose to near 100% in FY26 from \~70% earlier, improving the yield of higher-value light products from bottom-of-the-barrel streams. Full utilisation of existing DCU capacity extracts more margin per barrel of crude processed with no new capex.
7. Navratna status - financial autonomy - The Government of India granted Navratna status on 19 June 2026, upgrading CPCL from Schedule-A. This empowers the board to approve investments up to ₹1,000 cr without government referral, speeding up capex decisions across the project pipeline.
8. Sustainable Aviation Fuel - early-mover positioning - CPCL successfully completed a trial co-processing run of used cooking oil for SAF that met ASTM and DEF standards, and targets 1% SAF blending by 2027. With India’s SAF mandates approaching, an early rollout capability positions CPCL to capture a regulated, premium-priced fuel segment ahead of most domestic peers.