Incorporated as a private limited company in 1983, Hindustan Fluorocarbons (HFL) became a deemed public limited company in the same year. The promoters of the company are Hindustan Organic Chemicals (HOC), a Government of India enterprise and Andhra Pradesh Industrial Development Corporation (APIDC), a state-level development institution. The company manufactures plastics, synthetic resins, synthetic rubber and synthetic fibres of all kinds. It has entered into a technical agreement with Atochem, France, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Peecheny Ugine Kuhlmann, a large industrial enterprise interested in various fields such as metals, chemicals, nuclear fuel, etc. The company also manufactures poly tetra flouro ethylene (PTFE), a non-toxic engineering plastic which is an import substitute. During 1995, the company developed bogie bearing pads and rubbing plates for EMU coaches. It has signed an MoU with Bhabha Atomic Research Centre (BARC), wherein BARC will produce special-purpose grades of PTFE using radiation processing. During 1995-96, the PTFE plant capacity has been increased to 100 tpa. The company has tested its products in various fields to see where its products could be used. It manufactures PTFE bushes for fans which eliminates greasing. These bushes, developed in-house by HFL, are being used by Khaitan and Kedia in their fans. HFL has a marketing tie-up with Indian Petrochemicals Corporation (IPCL). The company exports PTFE to Europe, the US and Canada. HFL suffered continuous losses due to cheap imports. The company was declared sick by the BIFR. The chemical giant DuPont, US, is holding talks with Hindustan Organic Chemicals -- the holding company of Hindustan Fluorocarbons -- to pick up a stake in the company. The government has also approved this in principle. If this deal materialises, it will be one of the first cases of a joint venture between a public sector unit and a multinational. In case the joint-venture plan comes through, the merger of the company with its holding company, Hindustan Organics, which was planned in order to bring HFL out of the purview of the BIFR, will be dropped and the case will be withdrawn from the BIFR. The company has plans to increase the capacities and diversify into areas of value addition and upgrade the existing technology of PTFE and manufacture other fluropolymers. The company has identified development of Tetrafluoro propionate used as herbicide. Initial trials for reacting with TFE Monomer have been successful.The company is also roping with IICT for developing HEPTAFLUOROPROPANNE-A fire extinguish for DIFR.