Tata Chemicals will now be a pure chemicals company, having exited fertiliser business and other recent divestments.

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"After the exit from fertiliser business and several other strategic divestments over the last two years, Tata Chemicals will now be a pure play chemistry company going forward," said R Mukundan, managing director, Tata Chemicals at the company's 80th Annual General Meeting.

The focus of the company will primarily be on its two businesses of basic chemistry and specialty products. This comes after the board of Tata Chemicals approved the demerger of its consumer business to Tata Global Beverages Ltd in May 2019.

In the consumer business, the company has seen the segment grow at an accelerated pace. "We have launched packaged snacks, red rice poha, basmati, chutney and have even entered the detergent business," said Mukundan. "We will be in West Bengal for one year before we go pan India with the detergent," added Mukundan.

As far as the overall pure play chemistry business is concerned, the company is working on improving the performance of its overseas subsidiaries.

"During the financial year, a capital expenditure of Rs 2,400 crore has been approved by the board. This will be deployed towards debottlenecking of Mithapur facility that would enhance Soda Ash capacity. A part of it has already started being deployed," said Mukundan.

Rising energy costs and possible trade barriers continue to be some issues that the company has called out as challenges.

In a bid to take advantage of the government's push to encourage use of electric vehicles (EVs), Tata Chemicals will be moving into the Lithuim-ion battery business. It expects lithium recycling business to be the first one off the block. At the end of FY19, the company reported a net debt of around Rs 2,000 crore.