Atul Limited is an Indian

chemical A chemical substance is a unique form of matter with constant chemical composition and characteristic properties. Chemical substances may take the form of a single element or chemical compounds. If two or more chemical substances can be combin ...

manufacturing company headquartered in Atul,

Gujarat Gujarat () is a States of India, state along the Western India, western coast of India. Its coastline of about is the longest in the country, most of which lies on the Kathiawar peninsula. Gujarat is the List of states and union territories ...

and is listed on both stock exchanges of India. Founded on 5 September 1947 by industrialist

Kasturbhai Lalbhai Kasturbhai Lalbhai (19 December 1894 – 20 January 1980) was an Indian industrialist and philanthropist. He co-founded Arvind Mills along with his brothers and several other institutes. He was a co-founder of the Ahmadabad Education Society wh ...

, it was one of the first private‐sector enterprises established in post‐independence

India India, officially the Republic of India, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, seventh-largest country by area; the List of countries by population (United Nations), most populous country since ...

and is part of the

Lalbhai Group Lalbhai is a name of Indian origin. Notable people with the name include: *Lalbhai Dalpatbhai Lalbhai Dalpatbhai (1863-1912)Business World -1987 - Volume 7 - Page 44 was an industrialist and one of the first generation textile mill owners from A ...

. It serves over 4,000 customers across more than 30 industries in 90 countries through wholly owned subsidiaries in the

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Northwestern Europe, off the coast of European mainland, the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotlan ...

United Arab Emirates The United Arab Emirates (UAE), or simply the Emirates, is a country in West Asia, in the Middle East, at the eastern end of the Arabian Peninsula. It is a Federal monarchy, federal elective monarchy made up of Emirates of the United Arab E ...

China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. With population of China, a population exceeding 1.4 billion, it is the list of countries by population (United Nations), second-most populous country after ...

, and

Brazil Brazil, officially the Federative Republic of Brazil, is the largest country in South America. It is the world's List of countries and dependencies by area, fifth-largest country by area and the List of countries and dependencies by population ...

. Atul has diversified itself into a chemical conglomerate from a small company making a few textile dyes into a chemical conglomerate manufacturing 900 products and 400 formulations to 4,000 customers belonging to 30 diverse industries in the process making India self-reliant in manufacturing of several chemicals. The Company has established 41 operating subsidiary, a joint venture and associate entities over the seven decades. Atul is the largest producer of para Cresol, para-anisic, aldehyde and para-anisic alcohol in the world with almost 55% of total global capacity at a single location. Atul also manufactures many pharmaceuticals and drugs and it is the first company in India to manufacture

Dapsone Dapsone, also known as 4,4'-sulfonyldianiline (SDA) or diaminodiphenyl sulfone (DDS), is an antibiotic commonly used in combination with rifampicin and clofazimine for the treatment of leprosy. It is a second-line medication for the treatment an ...

. In 2024 Atul village developed by Atul and with help of its Atul Foundation got the Platinum Green Village certification.

History

Atul was incorporated on 5 September 1947 by Kasturbhai Lalbhai. The manufacturing plant at Atul village inaugurated by Prime Minister

Jawaharlal Nehru Jawaharlal Nehru (14 November 1889 – 27 May 1964) was an Indian anti-colonial nationalist, secular humanist, social democrat, and statesman who was a central figure in India during the middle of the 20th century. Nehru was a pr ...

in 1952. Early international partnerships included

American Cyanamid American Cyanamid Company was an American manufacturing conglomerate. It began as a fertilizer company and added many additional lines of business before merging with American Home Products in 1994. The combined company sold off most of its di ...

(1952) to form Cyanamid India Ltd for industrial chemicals and

Imperial Chemical Industries Imperial Chemical Industries (ICI) was a British Chemical industry, chemical company. It was, for much of its history, the largest manufacturer in Britain. Its headquarters were at Millbank in London. ICI was listed on the London Stock Exchange ...

(ICI) in 1955 to create Atic Industries Ltd for textile dyes. In 1960, a joint venture with

Ciba-Geigy Novartis AG is a Swiss multinational pharmaceutical corporation based in Basel, Switzerland. Novartis is one of the largest pharmaceutical companies in the world and was the eighth largest by revenue in 2024. Novartis manufactures the drugs ...

resulted in the creation of Cibatul Ltd for manufacturing epoxy resins. Key expansions: * 1967: Entry into

agrochemical An agrochemical or agrichemical, a contraction of ''agricultural chemical'', is a chemical product used in industrial agriculture. Agrichemical typically refers to biocides (pesticides including insecticides, herbicides, fungicides and nematicide ...

s with phenoxy herbicides * 1985: Acquisition of Piramal Rasayan Ltd (renamed Amal Ltd) * 1997: Founded Atul Bioscience Ltd for

active pharmaceutical ingredient An active ingredient is any ingredient that provides biological activity, biologically active or other direct effect in the diagnosis, cure, mitigation, treatment, or prevention of disease or to affect the structure or any function of the body of ...

s (APIs) and intermediates * 2011: Acquired DPD Ltd (UK) and formed joint venture with Rudolf GmbH (Germany) * 2012 -Atul's Ankleshwar unit started world’s biggest Para cresol manufacturing plant of Atul which was inagurated by

Narendra Modi Narendra Damodardas Modi (born 17 September 1950) is an Indian politician who has served as the Prime Minister of India, prime minister of India since 2014. Modi was the chief minister of Gujarat from 2001 to 2014 and is the Member of Par ...

, who was then Chief Minister of Gujarat *2013: Atul acquiered adhesive brand Polygrip * 2016:Dutch specialty chemicals major

AkzoNobel Akzo Nobel N.V., stylised as AkzoNobel, is a Dutch multinational corporation, multinational company which creates paints and performance coatings for both industry and consumers worldwide. Headquartered in Amsterdam, the company has activities ...

and Atul Ltd, a Lalbhai Group company signed an agreement to set up a manufacturing joint venture for the production of monochloro acetic acid (MCA) in India. * 2017: Joint venture with Nouryon (Netherlands) to produce monochloroacetic acid * 2022: Atul is one of the leading producers of sulphur black in the world. In 2022 it completed the expansion of its sulphur black manufacturing facility from 9,800 tonnes to 26000 tonnes per annum. * 2024: In January 2024 Atul commissioned 1035

crore Crore (; abbreviated cr) denotes the quantity ten million (107) and is equal to 100 lakh in the Indian numbering system. In many international contexts, the decimal quantity is formatted as 10,000,000, but when used in the context of the India ...

caustic-chlorine plant at its main plant in Atul village In October 2024 Atul completed the expansion of its liquid epoxy resin at its facility. After expansion the total capacity to manufacture is now 80,000 tons per annum. *2024 : Atul introduced a new patented herbicide to control post-emergence weeds, marking its dominance in the retail crop-protection market of India *2025 Atul Healthcare, which had acquired controlling stake in Valsad Institute of Medical Sciences Ltd in 2022 started its modern multi-specialty and super specialty NABH compliant 200 bed hospital in Valsad district at

Pardi Pardi is a town and a municipality in Valsad district in the Indian state of Gujarat. Roughly 14 km south of the district headquarters city of Valsad, has a rail station on the Mumbai-Vadodara line of Western Railway (India). National Hig ...

. The hospital was inaugurated by incumbent Chief Minister of Gujarat,

Bhupendrabhai Patel Bhupendrabhai Rajnikantbhai Patel (born 15 July 1962) is an Indian politician and civil engineer who is the current Chief Minister of Gujarat. He represented the Ghatlodia Assembly constituency in the Gujarat Legislative Assembly from 2017 to 2 ...

in February 2025.

Products

Atul manufactures over 900 products and 400 formulations across several segments: * Organic intermediates: para-Cresol, para-Anisic aldehyde * Polymers and resins: Epoxy phenol novolac,

Resorcinol Resorcinol (or resorcin) is a phenolic compound. It is an organic compound with the formula C6H4(OH)2. It is one of three isomeric benzenediols, the 1,3-isomer (or ''meta- (chemistry), meta''-isomer). Resorcinol crystallizes from benzene as co ...

formaldehyde * Dyes and pigments: Vat Green 1, Pigment Red 168, Sulphur Black * Agrochemicals:

2,4-D 2,4-Dichlorophenoxyacetic acid is an organic compound with the chemical formula . It is usually referred to by its ISO common name 2,4-D. It is a systemic herbicide that kills most broadleaf weeds by causing uncontrolled growth, but most gra ...

, Indoxacarb,

Propoxur Propoxur (Baygon) is a carbamate non-systemic insecticide, produced from catechol, and was introduced in 1959. It has a fast knockdown and long residual effect, and is used against turf, forestry, and household pests and fleas. It is also used in ...

* Pharmaceutical APIs:

Acyclovir Aciclovir, also known as acyclovir, is an antiviral medication. It is primarily used for the treatment of herpes simplex virus infections, chickenpox, and shingles. Other uses include the prevention of cytomegalovirus infections following tran ...

Fluconazole Fluconazole is an antifungal medication used for a number of fungal infections. These include candidiasis, blastomycosis, coccidioidomycosis, cryptococcosis, histoplasmosis, dermatophytosis, and tinea versicolor. It is also used to pr ...

, Valacyclovir

Operations

Production facilities are located in: * Atul (Gujarat) – flagship integrated site *

Ankleshwar Ankleshwar (sometimes written Ankaleshwar; ISO: ''Aṁkalēśvara'') is a city in the Bharuch district in the state of Gujarat, India. The city is located 14 kilometres from Bharuch. The village of Adadara is in Ankleshwar division. Industr ...

(Gujarat) – agrochemicals & intermediates * Panoli (Gujarat) – specialty chemicals * Tarapur & Ambernath (Maharashtra) – pharmaceuticals International subsidiaries: * Atul USA Inc. –

Charlotte, North Carolina Charlotte ( ) is the List of municipalities in North Carolina, most populous city in the U.S. state of North Carolina and the county seat of Mecklenburg County, North Carolina, Mecklenburg County. The population was 874,579 at the 2020 United ...

* Atul Europe Ltd. –

Wilmslow Wilmslow ( ) is a market town and civil parish in the borough of Cheshire East in Cheshire, England. It is south of Manchester. At the 2021 United Kingdom census, 2021 census the parish had a population of 26,213 and the built up area had a p ...

* Atul Middle East FZ-LLC–

Dubai Dubai (Help:IPA/English, /duːˈbaɪ/ Help:Pronunciation respelling key, ''doo-BYE''; Modern Standard Arabic, Modern Standard Arabic: ; Emirati Arabic, Emirati Arabic: , Romanization of Arabic, romanized: Help:IPA/English, /diˈbej/) is the Lis ...

* Atul China Ltd. –

Shanghai Shanghai, Shanghainese: , Standard Chinese pronunciation: is a direct-administered municipality and the most populous urban area in China. The city is located on the Chinese shoreline on the southern estuary of the Yangtze River, with the ...

* Atul Brasil Químicos Ltda. –

São Paulo São Paulo (; ; Portuguese for 'Paul the Apostle, Saint Paul') is the capital of the São Paulo (state), state of São Paulo, as well as the List of cities in Brazil by population, most populous city in Brazil, the List of largest cities in the ...

Philanthropy

Atul’s CSR initiatives focus on education, skill development, and healthcare: * Kalyani School and Urmi Santstha started in 1953 * Education: Atul Vidyalaya, Atul Vidyamandir * Vocational training: Atul Institute of Vocational Excellence (PPP model) * Healthcare and sanitation: Mobile clinics, toilet construction aligned with

Swachh Bharat Abhiyan Swachh Bharat Mission (SBM), Swachh Bharat Abhiyan, or Clean India Mission is a country-wide campaign initiated by the Government of India on 2 October 2014 to eliminate open defecation and improve solid waste management and to create Open Defec ...

References

{{Reflist Chemical companies of India Manufacturing companies based in Ahmedabad Indian companies established in 1947 Chemical companies established in 1947 Companies listed on the National Stock Exchange of India Companies listed on the Bombay Stock Exchange Family-owned companies of India Lalbhai Group Lalbhai family

History

Products

Operations

Philanthropy

See also

References