Chemical Demand Likely to Shoot by Around 9 percent Annually Under Various Investment Opportunities

Minister of Fertilizers and Chemicals on Tuesday proclaimed that the chemicals and petrochemicals demand in India is expected to achieve a sectoral growth of around 9 percent annually, with the industry size reaching USD 300 billion by 2025.  In 2018, the chemical industry was sized at USD 163 billion with an employability of over 2 million people. In a conference organised by Assocham, Sir DV Sadananda Gowda stated that over the last one and a half decade, the Indian chemical industry has transformed from a constrained into a mature industry with new investments by the domestic as well as foreign players leveraging it to achieve new heights. By permitting 100 per cent FDI on all chemicals except the hazardous ones and introducing a new Petroleum Chemical and Petrochemical Investment Regions Policy (PCPIR), India has paved the way for large-scale scale foreign and regional investments.

The personnel ensured that considering the significance of the manufacturing industry in India, the department is working at its best to provide supreme infrastructure and technological advancements. As the licensing requirements for majority of the chemicals have been removed under various government initiatives to promote self-reliance in chemical industry, the government has provided tremendous opportunities for new players to emerge in the domestic market.

Custom duties have also been bought down by 7.5 percent on various chemicals to boost production of the end-use commodities. The rise in production and consumption of chemicals across several Asian and Southeast Asian countries, followed by rising urbanization and growing urban penetration are the factors perceived to contribute towards the growth of the chemical sector in the forecast period.

As per ChemAnalyst, “As the Indian chemical industry contributes around 2.4 percent of the national GVA, progressive reforms for its development are expected to contribute well to embark a tremendous growth in the chemical manufacturing sector, thereby contributing towards an early revival of the overall economy.”