India’s chemical industry, with its highly diversified chemical products, is currently worth $147 billion. The industry accounts for 15% of India’s manufacturing GDP, which is crucial to the country’s economic development and is expected to grow to $226 billion by 2020. At present, India’s chemical industry accounts for 3% of the global chemical market, and its output value ranks sixth in the world. India’s specialty chemicals industry has driven double-digit growth in the past five years and is one of the next major trends for global investors in the next few years. As an integral part of the automotive, pharmaceutical, textile and manufacturing industries, the chemical industry is adopting sustainable practices to meet international quality standards and support innovation and growth in related industries.
With the introduction of measures such as “made in India”, reform of labor law, relaxation of land acquisition regulations and goods and services tax, India will soon become a world manufacturing center. Globalization makes the supply chain more complex; As a result, global chemical companies launched a joint initiative called “working together for sustainable development” (TFs) to encourage Indian chemical manufacturers and suppliers to implement sustainable development practices in their management and production systems. The aim of the initiative is to establish benchmarks that will create a sustainable supply chain. TFs member companies have used their resources to establish a global programme to audit and evaluate suppliers based on predefined standards on management, environment, health and safety, labor and human rights, and governance issues.
As a diversified manufacturing base of chemical industry, India has great potential to become a global supplier. Therefore, a sustainable supply chain is crucial to the industry. Since the launch of TFs, many Indian companies operating around the world have shown interest in joining. About 28 Indian suppliers have been audited under the TFs program. Vinati organizations Ltd (vol), a professional chemical manufacturer with branches in more than 22 countries, is one of the most noteworthy TFs assessment suppliers. This has helped the organization greatly increase its exports and become a supplier to the world’s top chemical companies. BASF, a German chemical giant in India, is aware of the importance of sustainable development and is ready to make all its production sectors run efficiently by 2020.
Clean manufacturing process is a prerequisite to combat ecological complexity. Indian manufacturers have begun to invest in R & D to produce non-toxic chemicals in a green way. Textile chemical manufacturers are also aware of the importance of moving towards biodegradable options and have begun to invest resources in the development of bio auxiliaries and probiotics to produce alternative bio chemicals. According to industry observation, before zero liquid discharge was enforced, some companies invested in zero liquid discharge. Compared with those companies that don’t take action in time, these companies get huge returns in terms of quality and cost.
Petroleum, chemical products and petrochemical products investment zone (pcpir) is a planned investment area, covering an area of 250 square kilometers, producing petroleum, chemicals and petrochemical products for domestic and export purposes. The Indian government has drawn up separate policies to establish pcpr in the country. The government has also launched a central plan to establish a “center of excellence” to study the petrochemical industry, focusing on green and sustainable technologies to reduce the hazardous impact of chemicals on the environment. The implementation of GST will also provide huge benefits for the chemical industry by reducing transaction costs and avoiding the chain effect on taxation.
India’s chemical industry is highly diversified, covering more than 8000 commercial products. Government support and industry initiatives are leading India to become the next large manufacturing destination and a global supplier of international sustainable quality chemical products.
