Draft chemical policy to be submitted to govt soon: Official

The Department of Chemicals and Petrochemicals will soon submit the draft national chemical policy to the government for consideration, a top official said here today.
Indrajit Pal, Secretary (Department of Chemicals and Petrochemicals), under the Ministry of Chemicals and Fertilisers, said the aim of the policy is to bridge the gap between import and export of chemicals by increasing the domestic production.
"We will be ready with the draft very soon. The new government has just taken over. Due to election code, we could not announce. We will submit it (draft policy) to the government soon," Pal told reports on the sidelines of an event organised by FICCI.

He said except three or four chemical substances, the rest of the sector is deregulated and hence cannot predict the likely investments that would come into the field.
He, however, said they expect the sector to outpace the GDP growth.
"We have grown form USD 110 billion to USD 140 billion in the span of two years. The objective (of the policy) is to make it grow further. The imports are about Rs 2.34 lakh crore and exports are in the range of Rs 1.78 lakh crore. We need to bridge the gap. We need to increase the domestic production," he further said.

About Petroleum, Chemical and Petrochemical Investment Region (PCPIR), he said the one that is coming up between Visakhapatnam and Kakinada will have a greenfield petrochemical complex, set up by HPCL.

HPCL is in talks with the Andhra Pradesh government for land and other related issues, he said.
A senior HPCL official said they are in talks with another PSU GAIL for a possible tie up for the plant in PCPIR.
The official hinted that both the PSUs may come to an agreement by next month, based on which the modalities for the future course of action will be worked out.