NEW DELHI: Ms Nirmala Sitharaman, Minister of Finance and Corporate Affairs, Govt of India today said that the Indian chemical and petrochemicals sector has huge potential, and it also impacts other sectors of the economy. The Finance Minister said that the importance of the sector can be gauged from the fact that it manufactures 80,000 products which includes sectors like agriculture, infrastructure, textiles and packaging. “We are in favor of India becoming a manufacturing hub and we will consider the PLI scheme also for the chemicals and petrochemicals sector,” she added.
Addressing the FICCI’s 3rd Global Chemicals & Petrochemicals Manufacturing Hubs in India Summit’, Ms Sitharaman stated that India has set its sight on becoming energy independent by 2047 and achieving net zero by 2070. She further urged the industry to play a key role in this mission. “Net zero cannot be achieved unless each one of the industry and sector contributes to it. We are very focused on Green growth, carbon intensity has to be reduced and therefore, each one of the sectors has to contribute towards this,” she emphasized.
Highlighting the challenges in the sector, Ms Sitharaman urged the industry to focus on issues related to sustainability of the products and processes, immense need for skilling, need to adopting Industry 4.0 in a very big way, skilling of people and pollution control regulations. “India has made an impact in the sector globally. The combined exports of major chemicals and petrochemicals in 2022-23 was $ 9 billion but also an increase in imports to $ 13.33 billion. I am quite comfortable with this but many of these imports are items which can be produced in India itself and there are some efforts in that direction as well,” she stated.
Ms Sitharaman also urged the industry including FICCI to look at the ways to become a circular economy and the government will work to consider on the recommendations submitted by the industry to make the sector sustainable.
She also said that the market of Specialty chemicals is growing exponentially and industry in India is expected to grow at 12 per cent CAGR. “I, therefore, understand the need for more robust support for specialized chemicals. The emergence of this market is driven by country’s strong process engineering capabilities, low-cost manufacturing capabilities and abundant manpower,” noted the Finance Minister.
Mr Bhagwanth Khuba, Minister of State for Chemicals & Petrochemicals and New & Renewable Energy, Govt of India said that the government is working towards creating an eco-system for the sector. “The government is working with state governments to set-up chemical parks in the country and the process of setting up plastic parks is already in place. We are also creating Center of Excellence to bring industry and academia together along with promoting skill development. “Today the market size of the sector is around $ 190 billion and is likely to reach $ 300 billion by 2025 and $ 1 trillion by 2040 with huge opportunities,” he stated.
Mr Pratap Keshari Deb, Minister of Industries, MSME & Energy, Govt of Odisha said, “We are growing domestically at 8 per cent in the chemicals sector and to sustain this growth over the next 10 years we would need 40 per cent growth in the capacity. The government of Odisha will handhold the industry who wants to set up industry in the state.”
Mr Arun Baroka, Secretary (Chemicals & Petrochemicals), Department of Chemicals & Petrochemicals, Govt of India said that supported by the policy reforms along with increasing demand and innovation, India’s outlook remains strong to be a global manufacturing hub. “Changing industry landscape is driving the Indian chemical and Petrochemicals industry towards the next wave of growth with newer opportunities,” he added.
Mr Subhrakant Panda, President, FICCI said, “Indian chemicals sector is highly diversified with 80,000 products which have an interplay with multiple sectors being key building blocks and raw materials. It has grown at more than 1.2x of GDP, and holds immense potential for employment as well as exports, driven by domestic consumption and enabling policies of government. India is an attractive destination for the chemicals sector and is expected to be a $1 trillion business by 2040 having a key impact on the economy overall.”
Mr Deepak C Mehta, Chairman, FICCI National Chemical Committee and CMD, Deepak Nitrite Ltd and Mr Prabh Das, Chairman, FICCI Petrochemicals Committee and MD & CEO, HPCL- Mittal Energy Ltd also shared their perspective on the Indian chemicals and petrochemicals sector.
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