Union Carbide Ltd. (India)

Union Carbide India Limited (UCIL) was a chemical company founded in 1934. UCIL employed 9,000 people. UCIL was 50.9% owned by Union Carbide and Carbon Corporation (UCC) located in the United States and 49.1% by Indian investors including the Government of India and government-controlled banks. UCIL produced batteries, carbon products, welding equipment, plastics, industrial chemicals, pesticides and marine products. In 1984, a gas leak occurred at a UCIL facility located in Bhopal, Madhya Pradesh, that was responsible for manufacturing various chemical products, primarily pesticides. The incident killed thousands of people, and harmed hundreds of thousands more by causing chronic illnesses. At the time of the disaster, UCIL was ranked twenty-first in size among companies operating in India. It had revenues of ₹2 billion (then equivalent to US$170 million). The formation of the pesticides and herbicides that were produced by Union Carbide was from carbaryl which is used as a base chemical in order to react with methyl isocyanate and alpha naphthol. In 1970, there was an issue with the methyl isocyanate unit being built (MIC) in Bhopal. The issue was due to the location of the unit which was nearby a railroad station and a heavily populated area.