AHMEDABAD - Gujarat Alkalies and Chemicals Ltd will start manufacturing hydrazine hydrate, a liquid industrial material, at its new plant in India's western state of Gujarat, a company executive said on Saturday.

India imports nearly all of its annual requirement of 17,000 tonne of hydrazine hydrate, which is mainly used as a starting product in agrochemical, pharmaceutical, automotive and leisure industries. The GACL unit "will be the first large-scale factory of hydrazine hydrate and will cut down the nation's import of the chemical by 60%," Swaroop P., the company's managing director, told Reuters.

The new factory, which will produce 10,000 tonnes of hydrazine hydrate annually, cost $49 million. It will be inaugurated by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Monday.

The company produces hydrogen peroxide, technical and food grade phosphoric acid, and caustic potash, among other chemicals.

(Editing by Rupam Jain; Editing by Mike Harrison)