By Debarati Das
The Department of Chemicals and Petrochemicals of the Union Ministry of Chemicals and Fertilisers and the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FICCI) jointly hosted the ninth edition of ‘India Chem 2016 – Exploring Opportunities’ in Mumbai from 1 to 3 September.
The three-day event aimed to strengthen the Indian chemical and petrochemical industries and enhance trade between India and foreign partners. Ananth Kumar, the Union Minister for Chemicals and Fertilisers, while inaugurating the event said, “Good chemistry binds everything and you know very well what bad chemistry does. To ‘MAKE’ anything we must strive for good chemistry.”
He further emphasised heavily on the changes that are required in the existing PCPIR policy to make it more practical and pragmatic. “There are waves of change and development. GST bill will reduce 10-15 percent of the tax for the chemical and petrochemical industries,” he added.
However, Ananth Kumar also added that while pursuing growth constantly, the industries must not forget sustainable growth as no progress is valid without taking it into consideration.
The event had participation from 282 exhibitors and 23 delegations who have come from various countries including Japan, South Korea, Israel, Iran, Vietnam, Portugal, Belgium, UK, Taiwan and various parts of India.
Iran was the partner country for the ninth edition of India Chem exhibition and conference. This partnership is expected to boost to the bilateral trade agreement between the two countries. The States of Gujarat, Odisha and Andhra Pradesh who also participated in the event as partner states attracted big ticket investments from foreign shores to boost India’s chemical industry. Senior government dignitaries such as Debi Prasad Mishra, Minister of Industries, Govt of Odisha, Anuj Kumar Bishnoi, Secretary, Department of Chemicals and Petrochemicals, also attended the event.
Bishnoi, in his inauguration speech remarked, “Only 0.5 percent of sales is spent on R&D, this must go up for India to be in top 5 largest petrochemical industry in the world”.
Currently, with the production of $108.4 billion, the Indian chemical industry stands 6th in the world. However, Deepak Mehta, Chairman - FICCI National Chemical Committee, said that he firmly believes that India has the potential to surge up on the scale and by 2025 the country will definitely be in the top 3. “We have come a long way from a country which was otherwise importing benzene, to become a country exporting 2000-3000 tonnes of benzene and it will not be surprising if by 2017 we might just be exporting 1 million tonnes of benzene,” said Mehta.
He further added, “The past eight editions of India Chem have contributed immensely to accelerate the growth of the Indian chemical industry and unlock opportunities for global partnerships. We are looking forward to having another successful year of India Chem and are hopeful of India becoming an emerging leader in the global chemical industry in the near future.”
The technical session hosted during the three-day event explored the opportunities in Indian Chemical and Petrochemical industry. Manish Panchal, Sr Practice Head at Tata Strategic Management Group said “As per industry leader survey covering companies which contribute to $95 billion to Indian chemical industry (70 percent of overall revenue), it was revealed that 65 percent of the leaders share that Indian GDP will go above 7 percent in the coming years and that they are highly optimistic.
Around 75 percent of leaders said India would definitely be their destination of choice followed by the Middle East and Africa. However, further analysis of the survey revealed that one of the biggest challenges which leaders in the industry feel, lies in front of India is the raw material cost and its availability.”
He further added that ‘Make in India’ initiatives will help increase the contribution of manufacturing sector to the GDP.
India Chem 2016 also witnessed a large participation of small scale industries through MSME along with the participation of the companies from Process Technology, Pumps & Valves with the support of the Department of Heavy Industries, Government of India.
© Chemical Today Magazine
Read More: Investments from across the globe-exploring opportunities
No comments:
Post a Comment