The unorganised chemical industry is set to get a comprehensive policy boost from the Union ministry of chemicals and fertilisers. The ministry is preparing a map for growth of the sector.
A working group has been set up to study the sector and categorise chemicals by usage, as in agro chemicals, speciality chemicals, organic chemicals, inorganic chemicals, etc.
“The group will look at all-round needs — financial, infrastructure, fiscal and import-related problems — with the objective to develop India as a manufacturing hub for chemicals. So, whatever requirements are needed, we will look into it. Primarily, the small and medium sector enterprises will be encouraged to create manufacturing units under conditions complying with international environment-friendly standards,” said an official source closely associated with the group.
Traditionally, the sector has been highly fragmented and unorganised. In fact, some chemicals are regulated by multiple ministries, depending on their uses.
“Investment zones will be created and universities and institutes will be asked to encourage their students on entrepreneurship in this field,” he added. The committee had a meeting last week and all stakeholders in this sector have been asked for their views.
There is an umbrella policy termed the policy resolution for petroleum, chemical and petrochemicals investment region (PCPIR). However, it is difficult to monitor and address the needs of all sectors under one policy. Therefore, it is necessary to give a focus to each sector, as each in itself is vast and fragmented.
Another objective of the mission to increase global competitiveness, to counter cheap imports. “What we need is a technological push for upgrading the basic chemicals for different uses, rather than just manufacturing basic generic chemicals,” sources said .
Recently, the ministry came out with a scheme for setting up plastic parks, actually part of the petrochemical policy. The four-fold objective of that mission is to increase the competitiveness, polymer absorption and value addition in the domestic downstream plastic processing industry, increase investments in the sector through additions in capacity and production, creating quality infrastructure, to achieve environmentally sustainable growth through innovative waste management and a cluster development approach for these objectives.
