BASF said on 21 September 2026 that it is evaluating an investment in an MDI production complex at Dahej in Gujarat, India, and is in the advanced stages of a feasibility study. Its subsidiary BASF India Polyurethanes Private Limited has secured an industrial land parcel at the site, where BASF already operates an MDI splitter and polyurethane production facilities. The company disclosed neither a capacity figure nor an investment amount and gave no commissioning date; a final investment decision depends on the outcome of the study and on the necessary approvals. BASF framed the project as supporting a local-for-local supply model for customers in India and neighbouring markets.
The application list is worth reading closely. BASF names building insulation and refrigeration first among MDI end-uses, ahead of automotive components, furniture and consumer goods. Coming from a producer with one of the largest MDI networks in the world, that ordering is a statement about which demand it expects to grow, and both of those applications sit on the rigid-foam, cold-chain side of the market rather than the flexible-foam side.
Dahej would join an MDI network that the release lists as Antwerp in Belgium, Chongqing and Caojing (Shanghai) in China, Yeosu in South Korea and Geismar in the United States. The one hard investment figure in the release belongs to the US site, not to India: Dr. Ramkumar Dhruva, President of BASF's Monomers division, said that "the commissioning of our $1 billion MDI expansion project in Geismar is entering its final phase". On India, board member and chief technology officer Dr. Stephan Kothrade said that "India is among the most attractive growth markets globally, with strong demand expected across a wide range of industries".
What was not published matters as much as what was. There is no tonnage, no capital figure and no timetable for Dahej, which places it a long way behind Geismar in maturity and makes comparison with sanctioned world-scale projects premature. Securing land and reaching the advanced stage of a study are real steps, but they are the steps a company takes before it commits, not after.
For a systems producer the near-term read-across is nil: an uncommitted Indian complex changes nothing about isocyanate availability or pricing this year or next. The medium-term read is about flows rather than tonnes. A local-for-local MDI complex in Gujarat would serve South Asian demand that is currently met in part by imports into the region, and any material redirection of those trade streams eventually shows up in what is on offer to buyers in Türkiye and the Gulf. The sound way to use this item is as a five-year input to supply strategy, and as confirmation that the largest producers still see insulation and refrigeration as the growth end of the MDI market.