New Delhi: The world is ready to partner with India and globally business leaders remain confident in India’s prospects and are making strategies to invest in the country, said Dr Mansukh Mandaviya, Union Minister of Health & Family Welfare and Minister of Chemicals & Fertilizers, while addressing 2nd Edition Summit on ‘India: Global Chemicals and Petrochemicals Manufacturing Hubs 2021’ organized by FICCI.

The Union Minister said that concentrated efforts by India to fortify the business and encourage investment in the trade have helped to attract investment, but the country needs further economic reforms to ensure sustainable inclusive growth. “Chemicals and Petrochemicals have played a vital role in society for decades and the focus is now on how to reduce the carbon footprint of the chemical industry and make the atmosphere pollution free,” added Dr Mandaviya.

He further said the government has launched the PLI scheme for different sectors which will directly or indirectly benefit the chemicals sector. The PLI schemes on the pharmaceuticals, automobile, textile, and telecommunication sector with each Rs 2 lakh crore were targeted towards boosting the industries and making India an investment hub globally, said the Minister. “The PLI scheme will benefit our entrepreneurs and we must cash in on the opportunities provided by the PLI scheme.”

Bhagwanth Khuba, Minister of State, Ministry of Chemicals & Fertilizers and Minister of State, Ministry of New & Renewable Energy, said that the industry leaders across the globe are considering investing in India with a positive outlook. In the post Covid-19 scenario, he said that India is all set to become the most potential chemicals and petrochemicals manufacturing hub in the world.

Thiru Thangam Thennarasu, Minister for Industries Department, Government of Tamil Nadu, said that Tamil Nadu is the most progressive industrialised state in India and offers the best infrastructure needs for any industry to thrive including chemicals and petrochemical industry. Chemical and petrochemical are the feedstock of every industry, and the sector plays a vital role in the state’s industrialisation making Tamil Nadu the manufacturing economy powerhouse. “We are trying to improve the business ecosystem in the state,” he added.

Yogendra Tripathi, Secretary, Department of Chemicals & Petrochemicals, Ministry of Chemicals and Fertilizers, said that in a rule based transparent system, opportunities for foreign investment and rewards on the investments are huge. India is emerging as an attractive and durable investment destination and manufacturing is a major growth sector for the Indian economy. He also stated that the chemical industry is a significant contributor to the manufacturing sector and economic growth.

Samir Kumar Biswas, Additional Secretary, Chemicals, Department of Chemicals and Petrochemicals, Ministry of Chemicals and Fertilizers, said that the past decade belonged to Southeast Asian countries, but this is the time for India to take the position and showcase its talent. Prabh Das, Chairman, FICCI Petrochemicals Committee and MD & CEO, HMEL Mittal Ltd, said that to achieve the dream of self-reliant India a renewed focus on the critical sector of chemical and petrochemical is essential.

Deepak C Mehta, Chairman, FICCI National Chemical Committee and Chairman and Managing Director, Deepak Nitrite Ltd, said that the year 2021 will be the year for ‘Chemicals in India.’ The crisis posed by Covid-19 created a huge disruption for the chemical industry and we learnt that the value chains are interlinked and the importance of developing the value chain was highlighted by Covid-19. /BI/