Build world-class facilities: Paswan to chemicals firms

The Indian chemicals industry should create world-class manufacturing facilities backed by contemporary technologies, Ram Vilas Paswan, union minister of chemicals, fertilisers and steel said today at India Chem 2004 in Mumbai.

The minister urged the corporates to enhance their investment on research and development (R&D) to 10 per cent of their sales turnover.

The country's competitive advantage in terms of intellectual capital and low R&D costs, according to Paswan, should be exploited to make India a global center for R&D.

Paswan said the ministry was working towards setting up mega industrial estates for the chemicalsindustry. "The ministry is also in the process of formulating a national policy on petrochemicalss."

"The domestic chemicalsindustry presents good potential for collaboration between the Indian and multinational companies. By 2010, the demand for polyester is expected to be around 12 million tonne which is 3 times the current consumption of 4.1 million tonne at present," Pratyush Sinha, secretary, department of chemicalsand petrochemicalss, said.

The Indian chemicalsindustry is 12 largest in the world, accounting for 16 per cent of the global production, and is growing at a rate of 14 per cent annually.