India Chem 2022

Post Show Report: Key discussion points

02 - 03 November 2022

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Table of Contents
1. Introduction ................................................................................................................................ 2
2. Program Schedule ..................................................................................................................... 3
3. Highlights from the Day 1.......................................................................................................... 4
3.1. Conclave on Specialty Chemicals ...................................................................................... 4
3.2. Inaugural Session ............................................................................................................... 8
3.3. CEOs Round Table (Closed Door Event) ......................................................................... 16
3.4. India – US Chemicals & Petrochemicals Forum ............................................................... 20
3.5. FICCI Chemicals & Petrochemicals Awards Distribution Function ................................... 23
4. Highlights from Day 2 .............................................................................................................. 26
4.1. Conclave on Dyestuff Industries ....................................................................................... 26
4.2. Conclave on Global Agrochemical Industry...................................................................... 31
4.3. Conclave on Global Petrochemicals Industry ................................................................... 36
4.4. Conclave on Process, Plant Machinery, Pumps & Valves ............................................... 40
4.5. India – EU Chemicals & Petrochemicals Forum............................................................... 48

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1. Introduction
• The Indian Chemicals & Petrochemicals Industry is growing rapidly due to the positive reforms undertaken
by the Government of India in recent years and atmosphere of encouragement. Chemical industry in India is
a diversified industry, covering about 80,000 commercial products. It provides key building blocks to a host
of downstream industries such as automobiles, textiles, papers, paints, soaps, detergents, pharmaceuticals
among many others. It is a capital-intensive industry which employs approx. 2 Mn people in India.
• The estimated size of the Indian chemical sector stands at approx. USD 163 billion in FY 18 and it is expected
to grow at ~9% per annum to reach $304 Bn by FY2025. 100% FDI in this sector is permitted under the
automatic approval route and the manufacturing of most of the chemical products is de-licensed except for a
few hazardous chemicals.
• In pursuance to your vision of Make in India and to provide impetus to the growth of the sector, Department
of Chemicals and Petrochemicals, Government of India and Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce
and Industry (FICCI) have organized the 11th biennial edition of India Chem, from 17th to 19th March 2021 at
Taj Palace, New Delhi India with the theme “India: Global Manufacturing Hub for Chemicals and
Petrochemicals”.
• India-Chem is one of the largest events of Chemicals and Petrochemicals industry in Asia—pacific region.
The foundation of this successful journey was laid in the year 2000 and was inaugurated by then Hon’ble
Prime Minister Late Shri Atal Bihari Vajpayee. Over the years, it has gained enormous popularity and
established itself as an internationally recognized event.
• The primary goal of India Chem series is to bring together global Diaspora leaders, CEOs, government
authorities, key industry players and subject matter experts from around the world in an open dialogue, under
one roof to discuss the key developments, sectoral issues, and the way forward with respect to Indian
chemicals and petrochemicals industry.
• India Chem 2021 has helped to develop possible strategies, sharing insights, exploring opportunities and
challenges which will shape the Chemicals and Petrochemicals Industry in India and across the world in the
next decade.

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2. Program Schedule
Day 1: Wednesday 02nd November, 2022
1000 – 1800 hrs Exhibition
1000 – 1100 hrs Registration
1130 – 1245 hrs Conclave on Specialty Chemicals
1245 – 1345 hrs Business Networking Lunch
1400 – 1430 hrs Exhibition Inauguration by Hon’ble Minister and Visit to the Exhibition
1430 – 1600 hrs Inaugural Session
1615 – 1720 hrs CEOs Round Table
1720 – 1730 hrs Networking Tea Break
1730 – 1830 hrs India – US Chemicals & Petrochemicals Forum
1900 hrs onwards FICCI Chemicals & Petrochemicals Awards Distribution Ceremony
2000 hrs onwards Business Networking Dinner
rd
Day 2: Thursday, 03 November, 2022
1000 – 1800 hrs Exhibition
1000 – 1800 hrs Buyer Seller Meet
1000 – 1100 hrs Conclave on Dyestuff Industries
1130 – 1300 hrs Conclave on Global Agrochemicals Industry
1300 – 1330 hrs Business Networking Lunch
1330 – 1430 hrs Conclave on Global Petrochemicals Industry
1400 – 1530 hrs Conclave on Process, Plant Machinery, Pumps & Valves
1530 – 1700 hrs India – EU Chemicals & Petrochemicals Forum
1700 hrs onwards High Tea

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3. Highlights from the Day 1

3.1. Conclave on Specialty Chemicals
Day 1: Wednesday, 02nd November 2022
1130 – 1245 hrs Conclave on Specialty Chemicals

About the session:

The specialty chemicals industry in India has witnessed a secular growth over the past few years, driven by a
strong traction in the end-user markets, and emergence of India as the preferred manufacturing destination for
companies across the globe. It has been one of the best performing segments in the Indian manufacturing
sector. Specialty chemicals account for a major share of more than 50% of chemical exports, dominated by
agrochemicals, dyes and pigments, etc.

The session will delve into the role of the Chemical Industry in making India a USD 5 trillion economy by 2025.
The stakeholders will also explore opportunities for attracting investments in various subsegments of Specialty
Chemicals to reduce the dependence on imports. Additionally, the session will focus on the various key issues
with respect to investment facilitation and incentivization, expedition of clearance and approvals, implementation
of mandatory standards, development of downstream industries.
Moderation by Mr. Jayant V Dhobley, Business Head and CEO, Aditya Birla Group
Opening remarks by Shri Susanta Kumar Purohit, Joint Secretary (Chemicals),
1130 – 1135 hrs. Department of Chemicals & Petrochemicals, Ministry of Chemicals & Fertilizers,
Government of India
Presentation by Mr. Deepak Mahurkar, Partner, Leader India Oil & Gas Industry
1135 – 1145 hrs.
Practice, PwC India on “Overview of Specialty Chemical Industry”
Industry Interaction:
State Perspective by Shri R. Karikal Valaven, IAS, Special Chief Secretary to
Government, Industries & Commerce, Government of Andhra Pradesh
• Mr. Mukesh Malhotra, Country Manager & Managing Director Solvay
Specialties India Pvt Ltd.
1145 – 1235 hrs • Mr. Rajen Mariwala, MD, Eternis Fine Chemicals
• Mr. Suresh Ramachandran, MD, Arkema India
• Mr. Kapil Malhotra, Global Business Unit Head- Fluoropolymers, Gujarat
Fluorochemicals Limited
• Dr. Sangeeta Srivastava, Executive Director, Godavari Biorefineries Ltd.
• Mr. Sagar Kaushik, Chief Operating Officer, UPL

Remarks by Shri Arun Baroka, Secretary (Chemicals and Petrochemicals), Ministry of

1235 – 1245 hrs.
Chemicals & Fertilizers, Government of India

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Key discussion points

The agenda of the session was to encourage industry – government participation

Mr. Jayant V Dhobley, Business Head and CEO, Aditya Birla Group has moderated the session and
gave the snapshot of Indian chemicals & specialty chemicals market and highlighted few sectors where
India currently has reached global level and others where India is hardly present.
• Current Indian chemical industry size is $175 billion. Within that
Specialty chemicals segment, which generates larger margins
constitutes around 20% of the total and is growing at 2-2.5
times GDP consistently over the last decade.
• The estimated size of specialty chemical industry by 2025 is
$65- $70 billion dollars while the global market size will be
about $ 1 trillion, which implies there is still room for more
growth.
• While India has reached global positions in segments like Agro
chemicals, dyes & pigments, the country falls behind in segments like high performance
polymers, nutraceuticals.
• India has advantages in terms of having excellent capabilities in process engineering on which
the development of the specialty chemical industry depends and in terms of better availability
of bio feedstock to help in reducing carbon footprint
Shri Susanta Kumar Purohit, Joint Secretary (Chemicals), Department of Chemicals &
Petrochemicals, Ministry of Chemicals & Fertilizers, Government of India
highlighted that specialty chemicals is one of the important sectors of
chemical industry and that it is expected to grow at around 13-15%. He
discussed the key growth drivers of the segment to be focused upon:
• Strong domestic demand potential - Current penetration ratio of
specialty chemicals in India is very less and therefore there is
strong potential for domestic demand
• Strong export potential – Currently India’s contribution to global
trade is less than 5% in specialty chemicals segment, therefore
huge potential to increase exports
• Skill - India has got competitive advantage in terms of availability
of talent and skilled workforce
• Government policies and support - India has industry friendly policies like 100% FDI allowance
and India’s rank in ease of doing business has significantly improved to 63.
Mr. Rajen Mariwala, MD, Eternis Fine Chemicals has elaborated upon the following points:
• India should focus on those specific areas in chemical
sectors that can be supported by technology and skill currently
available in India
• Since India is currently not a big market for specialty
chemicals industry, government push for exports is essential
• Developing the ability to build global scale plants by
making industrial estate available to build large scale facilities
• Developing skilled manpower by focusing on industry -
academia partnership through integrated 5-year programs
which can increase exposure

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Mr. Sagar Kaushik, Chief Operating Officer, UPL has elaborated on what Indian companies can do to
develop in the chemicals and specialty chemicals segment:
• India needs to invest in creating footprint in global market by developing supply chain
capabilities in destination markets
• India also needs to work on rebuilding the image of the sector in
terms of safety issues and environmental issues associated with the
sector
• India to also focus on upgrading the skill of workforce
• India’s potential to make manufacturing processes cheaper and
sustainable will provide it with great opportunity in agrochemicals
market which is transitioning from invention to innovation phase
• Manufacturing processes are to be made end to end
• Visibility of sustainability is important in terms of value creation to
increase exports in agrochemicals segment
• Agrochemical market should focus more on digitization, mechanization and increase the usage
bio feedstocks to make it more sustainable and useful for end users
Dr. Sangeeta Srivastava, Executive Director, Godavari
Biorefineries Ltd. has highlighted the success of ethanol biofuel
program which was policy driven and that such similar drive is
required for the growth of bio-based specialty chemicals sector which
is important to reduce carbon emission. She further discussed the
following key points:
• India needs to focus on issues like high import prices of
ethanol used as feedstock for chemical industry
• Environmental clearances must be made single window and
systems must be fast and flexible so that demands can be
catered to quickly
Mr. Kapil Malhotra, Global Business Unit Head- Fluoropolymers, Gujarat Fluorochemicals Limited has
focused on specialty polymers segments and elaborated on growth drivers, opportunities, and
improvement areas for the sectorGrowth drivers: He mentioned that Saint Gobain was expecting
around 30% CAGR growth in a few ‘sunrise’ sectors like EV battery
segment, 5G, solar panels, hydrogen fuel technology. Growth of these
sectors implies the growth of polymer chemicals which are building
blocks for them.
• Opportunities: Countries adopting China plus strategy provide
great opportunities for India
• Improvement areas:
o PLI schemes required for ‘sunrise’ sectors to increase
infrastructure investments
o BIS system upgradation required to restrict cheap imports
o Startup ecosystem must be encouraged in the chemical sector
for developing technology
o Ministry should incentivize carbon emission reduction measures and adoption of
greener technologies
Mr. Suresh Ramachandran, MD, Arkema India has elaborated on how
India can become an attractive investment destination for MNCs. He
elaborated on following points:
• MNCs would not just be interested in export market but also in domestic
consumption potential – therefore balance between domestic
consumption and export is important

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• It is importance to develop indigenous technology and measures like setting up R&D

innovations centers, research focused universities and importing people from countries like
Germany are to be taken to develop in house technologies.
Mr. Deepak Mahurkar, Partner, Leader India Oil & Gas Industry Practice, PwC India gave an overview
of the specialty chemicals market in India and how it compares globally. The key highlights of the
presentation were:
• Indian specialty chemical demand is growing at a CAGR of 12% to
reach 64 billion USD by 2025
• Few sub-segment markets such as Flavors & Fragrances (F&F),
construction and water chemicals are growing at CAGR of 17%,
15% and 15% respectively greater than the growth rate of overall
specialty chemicals segment
• India is the 4th largest agrochemical producer globally
• India has the highest market share in certain natural ingredient
segments such as spice oleoresins and mint extracts in the F&F
market
• Indian chemicals and petrochemicals market is expected to grow
from 178 billion USD from FY 2020 to 263 billion USD by FY 2025 at a CAGR of 8.1% while
specialty chemicals market is expected to grow from 39 billion USD in FY 2020 to 69 billion
USD by FY 2025 at a CAGR of 12%
• In FY 22, there was a record high export of chemicals of around 29.3 billion USD
• Major challenge in specialty chemical industry is the dependence on import of petrochemical
intermediates which can be solved by reducing custom duty of feedstocks and setting up of
tanks and pipelines infrastructure at port facilities
• An investment of INR 8 Lakh Cr (107.38 billion USD) is estimated in chemicals and
petrochemicals sector by 2025 due to factors such as growing demand, high growth in revenue
of Indian manufacturers, China+1 strategy, competitive prices, and export market potential
Shri Arun Baroka, Secretary (Chemicals and Petrochemicals),
Ministry of Chemicals & Fertilizers, Government of India has concluded
the session by addressing the key issues raised by speakers.

Concluding Points:
Shri Arun Baroka covered the below mentioned points, while
concluding the session.
• As a part of skill development India, more and more people are
being trained each year.
• Image rebuilding for the sector must be done in terms of the
accidents and risks associated with the sector.
• Government and private sector investments in the sector must be boosted
• Time taken for environmental clearances should be brought down and we need to move
towards clearances based on self-declarations
• Quality control orders should be issued for all BIS standards

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3.2. Inaugural Session

Agenda

Day 1: Wednesday, 02nd November, 2022

1430 – 1600 hrs Inaugural Session

Lighting of the Lamp
1430 – 1435 hrs
Felicitation of the dignitaries
Welcome Remarks by Mr. Prabh Das, Chairman- FICCI Petrochemicals Committee and
1435 – 1440 hrs
MD & CEO, HPCL – Mittal Energy Ltd.
1440 – 1450 hrs Global Perspective by Dr. Detlef Kratz, President, Group Research, BASF
Keynote Address: Indian Industry Perspective by Mr. Nikhil Meswani, Executive
1450 – 1500 hrs
Director, Reliance Industries Limited
Sectoral briefings by Shri Arun Baroka, Secretary (Chemicals and Petrochemicals),
1500 – 1510 hrs
Ministry of Chemicals & Fertilizers, Government of India
1510 – 1515 hrs Release of Knowledge Paper prepared by FICCI & PwC

Address by Shri Gudivada Amarnath, Hon’ble Minister of Industries, Infrastructure, IT

1515 – 1525 hrs
& Electronics, Government of Andhra Pradesh
Guest of Honor Address by Shri Bhagwanth Khuba, Hon’ble Minister of State, Ministry
1525 – 1535 hrs of Chemicals & Fertilizers and Minister of State, Ministry of New & Renewable Energy,
Government of India
Chief Guest Address by Dr. Mansukh Mandaviya, Hon’ble Union Minister of Health &
1535 – 1550 hrs
Family Welfare, Chemicals & Fertilizers, Government of India
Concluding Remarks & Vote of Thanks by Mr. Deepak C Mehta, Chairman, FICCI
1550 – 1600 hrs
National Chemical Committee and Chairman and Managing Director, Deepak Nitrite Ltd.

Key discussion points

India Chem 2022 inaugural session was held at Pragati Maidan, New Delhi on 02nd November 2022. The 12th
edition of this Biennial International Exhibition and Conference was back to its old in-person/ physical format-
while also being live streamed on YouTube platform. The theme of the event was “Vision 2030 – Chemicals &
Petrochemicals Build India” and the program was held from 02nd - 03rd November 2022.

Welcoming the gathering, Sapna (Anchor/ MC) gave a few key insights into the objective of the event – to
showcase tremendous potential and supportive government policy for sustainable growth in this sector and it
being a single platform for both domestic and international investors and other stakeholders to interact and forge
alliances, thereby providing immense potential for trade and investment in a mutually beneficial way

The honorable chief guest and other distinguished dignitaries were invited on the stage to light the ceremonial
lamp and formally inaugurate the exhibition and conference India Chem 2022.

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Dr. Mansukh Mandaviya, Hon’ble Union Minister of Health & Family Welfare, Chemicals & Fertilizers,
Government of India, Shri Bhagwanth Khuba, Hon’ble Minister of State, Ministry of Chemicals & Fertilizers and
Minister of State, Ministry of New & Renewable Energy, Government of India, Shri Gudivada Amarnath, Hon’ble
Minister of Industries, Infrastructure, IT & Electronics, Government of Andhra Pradesh, Shri Arun Baroka,
Secretary (Chemicals and Petrochemicals), Ministry of Chemicals & Fertilizers, Government of India, Mr. Nikhil
Meswani, Executive Director, Reliance Industries Limited, Dr. Detlef Kratz, President, Group Research, BASF,
Mr. Prabh Das, Chairman- FICCI Petrochemicals Committee and MD & CEO, HPCL – Mittal Energy Ltd., Mr.
Deepak C Mehta, Chairman, FICCI National Chemical Committee and Chairman and Managing Director,
Deepak Nitrite Ltd. inaugurated the event by lighting the ceremonial lamp.

Mr. Deepak C Mehta, Chairman, FICCI National Chemical Committee and Chairman and Managing Director,
Deepak Nitrite Ltd. was invited onto the stage to welcome the chief guest and felicitate the honorable chief guest,
Dr. Mansukh Mandaviya, Hon’ble Union Minister of Health & Family Welfare, Chemicals & Fertilizers,
Government of India, with a green certificate which is an initiative by FICCI wherein a grove of 10 trees will be
planted in the Sundarbans National Park, West Bengal in the name of the honorable minister.

Mr. Prabh Das, Chairman- FICCI Petrochemicals Committee and MD & CEO, HPCL – Mittal Energy Ltd. then
welcomed guest of honor, Shri Bhagwanth Khuba, Hon’ble Minister of State, Ministry of Chemicals & Fertilizers
and Minister of State, Ministry of New & Renewable Energy, Government of India, Shri Gudivada Amarnath,
Hon’ble Minister of Industries, Infrastructure, IT & Electronics, Government of Andhra Pradesh, and Shri Arun
Baroka, Secretary (Chemicals and Petrochemicals), Ministry of Chemicals & Fertilizers, Government of India
with green certificates.

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Mr. Prabh Das, Chairman- FICCI Petrochemicals Committee and MD &

CEO, HPCL – Mittal Energy Ltd. in his inaugural speech discussed the
major economic trends and highlighted the opportunities present in the
Indian chemical Sector. He discussed the following key points:

• India’s GDP is growing at 6-7% with the chemical and petrochemical

segment growing at 7-8%. The per capita consumption of polymers is
1/3rd of the world’s average. India has the largest young population
globally and rapid urbanization is taking place in the country.
• The current focus of the industry is – 1) Personal and process safety; 2)
Decarbonization and circular economy; 3) Environment, Social &
Governance

Dr. Detlef Kratz, President, Group Research, BASF in his keynote address presented the global perspective and
the need for innovation and research to find solutions for the future and about connecting knowledge across the
globe across regions. He also emphasized the purpose of BASF – to create chemistry for a sustainable future.
To achieve this, BASF has set distinct sustainability commitment targets:

• Zero-emission by 2050: BASF currently has 22 million tons

scope 1 and 2 emissions. They are aiming to reduce 25%
emissions (6 million tons) by 2030. 50% of emissions are from
fossil energy sources and if they can greenify this, half the
target will be reached. This should be complemented by CO2
free technologies and CO2 sequestration.
• Double circular sales by 2030: Target is to double circular
sales of 2019 to 17 billion Euros by 2030. In a circular
economy, there is no waste as the waste stream of one
industry becomes the raw material of another. To achieve this,
the value chain must be re-considered, not just logistically but
also technically to force new interfaces and partnerships
where chemistry will play a key role.
• Grow with sustainable products: Target to grow accelerator sales to 22 billion Euros by 2030. The
portfolio of products needs to be revised regularly with products being bettered toxicologically, safety-
wise and from a sustainable perspective.
The above three pillars also overlap as he mentions that the regulatory bodies need to be in dialogue with the
industry to understand what is doable as regulations in the new world must be simple, unambiguous and require
a high speed of investment. Customers and consumers are also asking for more sustainable products and they
need transparency to decide what they are willing to pay for.

Further, he also mentions how the chemical industry is looking for hydrocarbon feedstock on availability, price,
and the way it is used in the chemical industry. It has moved from biomass to coal to oil and now to gas as the
stoichiometry is right. The ultimate lever for CO2 reduction is electrification with renewable energy. The other
option is to upgrade low-energy feedstocks such as waste, off gases, biomass and even CO2 that will require far
more energy which will be 3-4 times as much energy as it is today. A KPI is the amount of renewable energy per
saved ton of CO2.

In terms of R&D expenditure of the total industry as a percentage of GDP. For Germany, the absolute spending
is around 100 billion euros per year out of which BASF spent 2 billion euros (2% of total expenditure in Germany).
Korea fares significantly well in this chart, while India does not fare well. In terms of perspective, it can be said
that public funding is proportionately high in India but industry spending in R&D is comparatively low.

In conclusion, the complexity of the task to achieve a sustainable future is much higher and an innovation
ecosystem of industry, customers, regulatory bodies, universities, etc. need to be achieved as many hands can

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contribute to value for our planet. The good news is that the chemical industry will continue to play a leading role
as an enabler for sustainability.

Mr. Nikhil Meswani, Executive Director, Reliance Industries Limited in his briefings about the India industry
perspective discussed the following key points:

• In the aftermath of COVID, the growth shot up to 6% and

immediately after that we faced extreme volatility in prices,
uncertainty in markets and a supply-chain crisis which we never
saw. The extreme volatility today has reduced the growth by half to
3% with surging inflation, high interest rates, high energy prices,
high fertilizer price and high food price.
• Emerging economies such as countries in Asia will be the key
engine of growth in the coming years with the shining star ‘India’
and India that will provide the growth and savings to the world. While
the world is struggling with grim forecasts, India is growing at 7%
this year being the fastest growing global economy. India has
surpassed the UK as the 5th largest economy and is driven by strong
consumption in home markets.
• India’s well targeted policy mix accompanied with structural reforms towards ease of doing business and
initiatives of Government of India making sure outdated laws are phased out and finally embracing the Global
Best Practices is making sure we surely and steadily are on the way to become a 10 trillion-dollar economy
sooner rather than later and we will only be the third country in the world to achieve it after USA and China.
This is driven by demographics, consumption, and technological capabilities.
• During the COVID crisis, India managed to manufacture PPE kits at 1/3rd the cost of China, not only for
domestic use but also as exports to global countries. India also ran a vaccine program for over 1.2 billion
people to keep the people safe. The chemical industry also did its part by converting industrial oxygen to
medical oxygen, saving thousands of lives daily.
• 80,000 products are used from our industry and 96% of all manufactured products in the world, particularly
in India, consume chemicals. Chemicals cater to an extremely diverse range of sectors including agriculture,
food, clothing, transportation, communication, and healthcare. We are growing in India in the industry just
over 9%.
• India is the 6th largest producer of chemicals globally and the 4th largest in Asia, however, the global market
share of India is only 3% compared to China’s 45% and USA’s 12%. India exports to 275 countries and the
recent initiatives of the government to encourage Free Trade Agreements (FTAs) in a modern framework
and make sure they foster cross-border investments is a positive step in this direction.
• In terms of the key future growth initiatives, the challenges/ key areas to focus on are –
o Expanding outreach and creating a global footprint
o Reduce dependence on imports to be Atmanirbhar
o Invest in R&D
o Extreme digitization
o Changing perception from being a polluter to solution provider
o Sustainability and compliance with our environment to leave a better planet for tomorrow
• The opportunity in India if we include commodity chemicals and specialty and create a manufacturing hub for
the world in ‘China+1’ initiative is enormous and will exceed half a trillion dollars. Adding fertilizer to this will
double the opportunity size.
• Sustainability and circularity, oil to chemicals, advanced materials and renewables are our current mega
trends globally. Foremost is sustainability and we need to make sure to become resource efficient, circular
approached and reduce our carbon footprint. Transforming this will add 6 trillion dollars to global economy
and 6 million jobs.

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• Reliance Industries, today, recycles more than 2.5 million bottles and are looking to bolster their capacity to
double it at 5 million bottles making sure India has the highest rate of PET recycling globally. Reliance
converts this waste into polyester and fibers.
• In India, chemicals are the second largest item of import in our trade bill, and this can be converted into an
opportunity one new CAPEX cycle and convert India into a manufacturing hub and value-added processing
hub. This is both a strategic and an economic rationale to ensure we transform our chemical industry is
transformed in a sustainable growing environment.
• India is investing over 75,000 crores in this industry today, and making sure
• Over the last two decades with fast paced economic reforms India has emerged steadily reflected by the fact
that average GDP growth rate has been more than 7% in the last two decades.
• India not only handled pandemic emphatically but became manufacturing hub for the vaccine development.

In conclusion he highlighted that, “Chemicals are intrinsic to the path of the future. The sector will unleash to
contribute to new opportunities. Our commitment and efforts will make sure we build a stronger India and a
transformed path.”

Shri Arun Baroka, Secretary (Chemicals and Petrochemicals), Ministry of Chemicals & Fertilizers, Government
of India gave the sectoral briefings of the chemicals and petrochemicals industry discussing the following key
points:

• India is positioned at 7% GDP growth compared to other

major economies such as USA, China, and Japan at
around 2-3%
• India has emerged as an attractive investment decision
because of the resilience to the global economic swings
mainly due to consumption potential and Government’s
industrial friendly policy
• In terms of manufacturing, India is poised to become a
major growth pillar to the Indian economy which is aided
by Government’s push to self-reliance and vision to
become a 5 trillion USD economy by 2024
• India’s manufacturing competitiveness is fueled by progressive Government policy and some of the
facilitating Government initiatives such as stable democracy, streamlined regulatory and tax framework,
quality labor at competitive cost, robust investment policies and high-quality infrastructure available in
the country
• India has improved its Global Competitiveness ranking by 6 positions in 2022 from 43rd in 2021 to 37th in
2022
• Chemical industry in India has been a significant contributor to the manufacturing sector and to the
economic growth of India. India is the 2nd largest manufacturer and exporter of dyes. India’s per capita
consumption of chemicals is about 1/10th of the global average.
• Presuming a business-as-usual scenario at a growth rate of 8%, Indian chemical industry is poised to
become 260 USD billion by 2025 and 383 USD billion by 2030
• Chemicals such as PVC, PTA, VCM, Methanol, Acetic acid among many others represent chemicals
which can be invested in as there is a supply deficit due to growing demand and insufficient domestic
capacity
• In terms of the end-use industries, segments such as agrochemicals, care and hygiene, iron and steel,
textiles and pharma are expected to exhibit high growth by 2024
• Policy initiatives by the Government has been the game changer for Indian chemical industry. Industrial
infrastructure, governance and clearance, skilled manpower and labor laws, regulatory and quality
standards, availability of feedstock, and local manufacturing, exports & innovation have been the game
changers.

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He further emphasized that, “This is a very good time for industry to set up their business in India and this kind
of opportunity will not come again with the geo-political situation in the world is such that India is expected to
showcase a good growth rate. The climate provided by the Government is very congenial and Government is
welcoming the industry to set up their manufacturing in India and there is a constant interaction with the industry
to identify the challenges and resolve the issues.”

Shri Gudivada Amarnath, Hon’ble Minister of Industries, Infrastructure, IT & Electronics, Government of Andhra
Pradesh highlighted the importance and significance of the state and shared some key observations detailed as
follows:

• Andhra Pradesh is home to many renowned chemical and petrochemical industries including HPCL, ONGC,
IOCL, Reliance, Grasim Industries, Tata Industries, BASF, Deccan Fine Chemicals, Nagarjuna Fertilizers,
Coromandel Fertilizers and many more, due to its inherent strengths and owing to its strategic location
• The production of chemical and petrochemical sector in the state had reached 11.9 billion USD, contributing
to 8% of India’s production
• The chemicals and petrochemicals sector has almost 7.3 billion USD committed investment employing
almost 1,39,000 employees
• The exports of chemicals and petrochemicals in Andhra Pradesh recorded almost 22% growth in 2021 with
almost 2.1 billion USD
• With a resource base of 1,130 million metric tons, the Krishna-Godavari River has the maximum number of
oil and gas reserves
• Andhra Pradesh Petroleum, Chemicals and Petrochemical
Investment Region (PCPIR) is the largest in the country which is 640
square kilometers notified by the Government of India
• Andhra Pradesh is home to the largest full conversion
hydrocracker unit of HPCL in Visakhapatnam and is expanding its
capacity to 15 million metric tons by the end of this year. Additionally,
one of the world’s deepest undergrounds liquified petroleum gas
storage cavern project has been built near the city of Visakhapatnam.
• With almost 5,100+ MSMEs operating in organic and inorganic
chemicals, plastics, specialty chemicals, industrial gases,
agrochemicals, and fertilizers with a growth rate of 12%
• Andhra Pradesh was ranked #1 for ease of doing business for
rd
the 3 consecutive year
• Andhra Pradesh has the second largest coastline of the country and closest proximity to petrochemical
nations such as Middle East, Asia-Pacific and East Asia with several ports equipped to handle liquid cargo
and feedstock supply making Andhra Pradesh an eastern gateway to India
• Andhra Pradesh is the only state with 3 industrial corridors – Visakhapatnam-Chennai, Hyderabad-
Bangalore, and Bangalore-Chennai
• Hon’ble Chief Minister of Andhra Pradesh, Shri YS Jagan Mohan Reddy committed to port-led industrial
development to be able to connect to the inter-land to the global trade networks through their ports thereby
creating seamless logistic corridors
• Andhra Pradesh is the second largest mineral storehouse in India. In the PCPIR region of Visakhapatnam
and Kakinada, a 169 km pipeline is being developed under Kakinada Srikakulam pipeline natural gas grid.

Further, he concluded by saying that “There is a huge untapped potential in the chemical sector which is a crucial
component to reducing import dependence. Through this platform, we wish to inform you that the State
Government is ready to provide you with all necessary support. We have a risk-free land bank under PCPIR
region at reduced upfront cost covering 6 SEZs and 24*7 power and water supply. I, therefore, take this
opportunity to welcome to the state of Andhra Pradesh to all the industries to come and explore Andhra Pradesh
as a potential partner of growth where abundance meets prosperity.”

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The dignitaries on stage were joined by Mr. Deepak Mahurkar, Partner, Leader –
India Oil & Gas Industry Practice, PwC India, and Mr. Nikhil Kalane, Manager,
Chemicals Competency, Oil & Gas Practice, PwC India and the knowledge paper on
‘Sustainability and the chemical industry’ prepared by FICCI and PwC was then
released by Hon’ble Chief Guest and Hon’ble Union Minister

Shri Bhagwanth Khuba, Hon’ble Minister of State, Ministry of Chemicals & Fertilizers and Minister of State,
Ministry of New & Renewable Energy, Government of India shared few insights on the potential of chemicals and
petrochemicals market in India.
• India can cater to the domestic as well as global demand of
chemicals and petrochemicals because India is a nation of young
citizens and will remain a country of young citizens in 2037 and has
tremendous potential for growth in the coming years
• In the last 8.5 years, under the leadership of Shri Narendra Modi,
Hon’ble Prime Minister of India, has made India a more competitive
and invited more foreign companies to set up manufacturing and
invest in India
• Along with the world competitiveness, world class infrastructure in
terms of roadways, railways, airways, waterways, and ports have
been developed
• Even after the COVID crisis and Russia-Ukraine war situation, India
has still maintained a high GDP growth rate which is greater than that of developed nations such as China,
US, and Japan
• Today, under new and renewable energy, in the last 8.5 years, the production has grown 3 times and the
Government of India has announced a production target of 500 GW by 2030.
• Government of India has rolled out industry friendly policies to invite more manufacturers and investors to
come to India

Dr. Mansukh Mandaviya, Hon’ble Union Minister of Health & Family Welfare, Chemicals & Fertilizers,
Government of India shared few insights on importance of industrial development to grow chemicals and
petrochemicals industry:
•An ecosystem between the industry, government and customer
needs to be built to grow the industry and move the nation
forward
•During the COVID crisis, when the virus started to spread
among the population in India, Shri Narendra Modi held a
meeting with the nation’s top scientists and highly ranked
officials. The outcome of the meeting was to provide vaccination;
however, the typical situation is that vaccines are developed in
other nations and then it reaches India 8-10 years later after
testing and approval process. Due to the high population of India
and the severity of the situation, it was collectively decided by
the scientists and industry to develop and manufacture India’s
own vaccine. The first dose of vaccine globally was administered
in December 2020, while India administered its first vaccine dose
in January 2021 showing the potential and capability of the nation to research, develop and manufacture
products of its own.

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• The ‘Atmanirbhar Bharat’ initiative was taken by the government to develop industries in India to cater to
domestic demand of critical products. It was done to promote manufacturing in India and provide a balance
between the export and import of products (trade balance)
• The PLI scheme was introduced to support ‘Atmanirbhar Bharat’ initiative by having multiple discussions with
industry stakeholders to understand their challenges and concerns and promote domestic manufacturing
• This was followed up by continuous discussions with the industry after the schemes were rolled out and
during implementation phase to understand further constraints and reform or transform the policy/ initiative if
necessary to better ease of doing business
• India is home to the largest number of unicorn startups globally. There was a situation during COVID where
there was a shortage of cargo containers for import and export. A meeting was set up with key industrial
players and it was suggested to them to start production of cargo containers for India’s requirement. Today,
in Bhavnagar, Gujarat, an ecosystem has been formed with a container manufacturer making 200 containers
per day. A tender was rolled out for 10,000 containers in India by CONCOR, which was won by the
manufacturer who will provide 10,000 indigenous manufactured containers to Railways.
• The Government of India wants to work together with the industry to understand what they can do to build
industrial parks, achieve zero liquid discharge, and reduce deep sea discharge among various other
opportunities
• Increasing population has contributed to a high growing demand for all products and markets in India, that
the world is currently looking at India as an emerging market and one of the best destinations for countries
to invest in.

Mr. Deepak C Mehta, Chairman, FICCI National Chemical Committee and Chairman and Managing Director,
Deepak Nitrite Ltd. elaborated upon the following points while concluding the session.

Concluding Points:

• India in the last couple of years have grown from being the
7th largest to the 5th largest player in the world of chemicals.
There are a few things which are happening positively that
is going to change the situation and make it even better:
o For the ‘China+1’ strategy, India is one of the
preferred nations for chemicals sector compared to
other nations such as Vietnam and Thailand
o Due to the Russia-Ukraine war, Europe has also
been looking at India as a ‘Europe+1’ strategy to
grow their business outside of Europe and not in
China
o Changes that have taken place in India in the last couple of years such as rapid increase in demand
and production, strong support from the Government, amount of investment coming in from
government as well as public/ private funding
o Growth of the chemical industry is set to cross 380 billion USD in 2030, however, with the pace that
the Government is supporting the industry, this target can be achieved 3 years ahead of forecasted
time

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3.3. CEOs Round Table (Closed Door Event)

Agenda
Day 1: Wednesday, 02nd November, 2022

1210 – 1410 hrs. CEOs Round Table

About the Session:
The chemical & petrochemical industry has been one of the robust segments of the manufacturing sector in
India. The rising focus on India can be attributed to India’s operating conditions and cost competitiveness. Also,
the country’s proven success in meeting outsourcing requirements has led to the increase in the ranking year
on year. The session will have discussions on the investment potential of bulk chemicals, petrochemicals,
plastics, specialty chemicals, crop protection chemicals, and brainstorming on the Production Linked Incentive
(PLI) scheme. The session will also have a brief discussion on the key challenges faced by strategic investors
while evaluating investment opportunities in India.
The roundtable aims to bring the Government and the industry together to discuss the myriad investment
opportunities and challenges that impede ease of doing business in the chemical and petrochemicals industry
in India
Moderation & setting the tone by Mr. Deepak Mahurkar, Partner, Leader India Oil & Gas Industry Practice,
PwC India
Opening remarks by Mr. Deepak C. Mehta, Chairman, FICCI National Chemical
1615 – 1620 hrs
Committee and Chairman & Managing Director, Deepak Nitrite Ltd.
Presentation on Industry Outlook by Mr. Deepak Mahurkar, Partner, Leader India Oil &
1620 – 1625 hrs
Gas Industry Practice, PwC India
Setting the tone by Shri Arun Baroka, Secretary (Chemicals and Petrochemicals),
1625 – 1630 hrs
Ministry of Chemicals & Fertilizers, Government of India
1630 – 1650 hrs States – Views & Suggestions
Shri R. Karikal Valavan, IAS, Special Chief Secretary to Government, Industries &
1630 – 1635 hrs
Commerce, Government of Andhra Pradesh
Dr. Vipin Sharma, IAS, Chief Executive Officer, Maharashtra Industrial Development
1635 – 1640 hrs
Corporation, Government of Maharashtra
Mr. Hemant Sharma, Principal Secretary, Industries Department, Government of
1640 – 1645 hrs
Odisha
1645 – 1650 hrs Shri P. Mohangandhi, IAS, Secretary, Government of West Bengal

1650 – 1705 hrs CEO’s Interaction

CEOs:
1. Mr. Mukesh Malhotra, Country Manager & Managing Director, Solvay
Specialties India Pvt. Ltd.
2. Mr. Jayant V Dhobley, Business Head and CEO, Aditya Birla Group
3. Dr. Sangeeta Srivastava, Executive Director, Godavari Biorefineries Ltd.
4. Mr. Deepak C. Mehta, Chairman & Managing Director, Deepak Nitrite Ltd.
5. Mr. Sagar Kaushik, Chief Operating Officer, UPL
6. Mr. Gurinder Singh, Managing Director, Opal
7. Shri N.K. Aggarwal, Chairman, Crystal Crop Protection Limited
8. Mr. Prabh Das, Managing Director & CEO HPCL - Mittal Energy Ltd.
9. Mr. R G Agarwal, Chairman Dhanuka Agritech Ltd.
10. Mr. Janardhanan Ramanujalu, Vice President, Regional Head- South Asia &
Australia, SABIC India

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11. Shri Sujoy Choudhury, Director (Planning & Business Development), Indian
Oil Corporation Ltd.
12. Mr. Ankur Aggarwal, Managing Director, Crystal Crop protection Ltd.
13. Mr. Narayan Krishna Mohan, Managing Director, BASD India
14. Mr. Suresh Ramachandran, Country head & Managing Director, Arkema India
15. Mr. Anil Bhatia, Vice President & Managing Director – India, Emerson
16. Mr. Sai Prasad Jadhav, CEO, Epsilon Carbon Pvt. Ltd.
17. Mr. A S Sahney, Executive Director, Petrochemicals, Indian Oil Corporation
Limited
18. Mr. Avinash Verma, President – Operations, Petrochemicals, Reliance
Industries Limited
19. Mr. Jacob Duer, President and CEO, Alliance to End Plastic Waste
20. Mr. Kapil Malhotra, Global Business Unit Head – Fluoropolymers, Gujarat
Fluoropolymers Limited
21. Mr. Vinod Paremal, President & Managing Director, Evonik India Pvt. Ltd.
22. Mr. Raju Kapoor, Director – Industry & Public Affairs, FMC India Pvt. Ltd.
Guest of Honour Address by Shri Bhagwanth Khuba, Hon’ble Minister of State,
1705 – 1710 hrs Ministry of Chemicals & Fertilizers and Minster of State, Ministry of New & Renewable
Energy, Government of India
Chief Guest Address by DR Mansukh Mandaviya, Hon’ble Union Minister of Health &
1710 – 1720 hrs
Family Welfare, Chemicals & Fertilizers, Government of India

Vote of Thanks by Mr. Prabh Das, Chairman – FICCI Petrochemicals Committee and Managing Director and
CEO, HPCL-Mittal Energy Ltd.

Key discussion points

In this conference close to 25 top leaders from chemical industry both domestic as well as international
companies and government of states like Andhra Pradesh, Maharashtra, Odisha, and West Bengal
participated to discuss the importance of key issues and topics like future course of development,
investment, and growth prevalent to the chemical sector.

Mr. Deepak C. Mehta, Chairman, FICCI National Chemical Committee

and Chairman & Managing Director, Deepak Nitrite Ltd. gave his
remarks regarding the issues with effluent that requires to be diluted to
be bio-treated. However, several challenges are poised with using water
for dilution of waste effluent from Pollution Control Board (PCB).

Mr. Deepak Mahurkar, Partner, Leader India Oil & Gas Industry
Practice, PwC India brought forward his industry view on the obligations,
challenges, and opportunities, few of which are mentioned below:

Sustainability creates more trust, lower cost, more growth, and lower risk

The increasing sustainability focus of the industry can be attributed to various

factors such as regulatory compliance, cost reduction, revenue, value to society
etc. Chemical companies comply with regulations for chemical management &
handling, its usage, environmental management, disaster & energy
management, special categories of chemicals

Embedded carbon footprint associated with oil & gas feedstock is a major challenging area; tightened
supply of oil & gas feedstock and price volatility are other challenges

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Chemical sector has a unique position for value creation, inducing sustainability at different nodes of
its own value chain and to its customer industries

• Green hydrogen as chemical feedstock, manufacturing green ammonia, carbon capture, CO2
conversion to valuable products, plastic recycling – Opportunities in chemical industry
• (A) Adapt & adopt sustainability frameworks, (S) Engage stakeholders, (P) Prioritize material
issues, (I) Integrate sustainability with core business, (RE) Report, disclose & communicate
To conclude, market awareness, focus on technology and agile approach are the key factors enabling
sustainability.

Shri Karikal Valaven, IAS, Special Chief Secretary to Government,

Industries & Commerce, Government of Andhra Pradesh discussed the
following points:

• Andhra Pradesh has the largest PCPIR in the nation with proposed 10
billion USD investment and 1.5 lakh people employed
• Andhra Pradesh is undergoing huge logistics and infrastructural
development to better ease of doing business

Dr. Vipin Sharma, IAS, Chief Executive Officer,

Maharashtra Industrial Development Corporation, Government of
Maharashtra mentioned the following details:

• State of Maharashtra contributes to 15% output of India in

pharmaceuticals and 14% output in India in chemicals and petrochemicals
• Maharashtra is also home to 13 dedicated chemical zone having
common effluent treatment plant, common hazardous waste transportation
storage facilities are present
Mr. Hemant Sharma, Principal Secretary, Industries Department,
Government of Odisha, mentioned significant and important details
about the state of Odisha:

• Odisha is the largest producer of steel and alumina

• Huge opportunity present in the metal and mining sector with
presence of pure earths such as TiO2
• Government of Odisha will build the infrastructure around the plant
such as roadways and effluent treatment plants before the
construction of the plant commences to facilitate ease of plant
operations when the plant is commissioned
Mr. Janardhanan Ramanujalu, Vice President, Regional Head- South Asia &
Australia, SABIC India focused on the need for:

• Need for a perspective plan and to facilitate next set of feedstocks for
production cycle
• Need to follow global standards for complex chemicals thus making
exports and entering foreign markets easier for Indian players

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Mr. Avinash Verma, President – Operations, Petrochemicals, Reliance

Industries Limited

• Relook and revise government procedures for regulatory approvals as

this is a lengthy and complex process
• Support to scale up capacity to meet global requirements, and not only
India demand
• Enforcing of standards need to be done with conviction in the industry

Dr. Sangeeta Srivastava, Executive Director, Godavari Biorefineries Ltd. talked

about sustainability and highlighting the below points:

• Today, sustainability has become a necessity for all companies.

Manufacturers are looking to incorporate biochemicals in terms of green carbon
from 30% to 100%
• Need to invest in solutions focusing on waste management to contribute
to circular economy
Chief Guest, Dr. Mansukh Mandaviya, Hon’ble Union Minister of Health & Family Welfare, Chemicals
& Fertilizers, Government of India mentioned the following
points:

• Develop a combined ecosystem including the

Government and industry players to move the industry
forward
• Understand why foreign companies are not entering/
investing in India. What is the way forward to make the ease
of doing business (from procuring land to construction to
production) better to attract foreign companies?

Mr. Prabh Das, Chairman – FICCI Petrochemicals Committee and

Managing Director and CEO, HPCL-Mittal Energy Ltd. proposed Vote of
Thanks thus concluding this event.

Concluding Points:

• There is an urgent need to simplify current regulatory approval process

• It is important to focus on including sustainability in chemicals and
petrochemicals manufacturing
• Following global standards is necessary to ease the trade of complex chemicals

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3.4. India – US Chemicals & Petrochemicals Forum

Agenda
Day 1: Wednesday, 02nd November 2022

1730 - 1830 hrs. India – US Chemicals & Petrochemicals Forum

About the Session:
The U.S.-India strategic partnership is founded on shared values including a commitment to democracy and
upholding the rules-based international system. The United States and India have shared interests in
promoting global security, stability, and economic prosperity through trade, investment, and connectivity. In
2021, overall U.S.-India bilateral trade in goods and services reached a record 157 billion USD. The United
States is India’s largest trading partner and most important export market.

The forum will provide a platform to share and understand the investment potential in Indian Chemicals &
Petrochemicals industry to support “Make in India” initiative, scope of collaboration and business expansion
of US companies in India, recent progress in Research and Development in US, Technology transfer for the
development of Indian industry, improvement in bilateral trade between India and US. USIPF is the Partner
Association of this forum.
Moderation by Mr. Mohammad Athar, Partner, PwC India

1730 – 1735 hrs. Opening Remarks by Ms. Nivedita Mehra, Managing Director, India, USISPF
Overview on “Collaborative Opportunities between India and US” by Mr.
1735 – 1740 hrs.
Mohammad Athar, Partner, PwC India
1740 – 1745 hrs. Address by Representative from U.S. Embassy & Consulates in India
Industry Interaction
• Mr. Nolty Theriot, Senior Vice President of Government Affairs and head
of the energy, manufacturing, environment, and infrastructure
• Ms. Preeti Jain, Director, Business Development and Government
1745 – 1825 hrs. Relations, LanzaTech
• Mr. Rakesh Mehta, Director of ExxonMobil Chemicals in India
• Mr. Anil Bhatia, Vice President & Managing Director – India, Emerson
• Mr. Raju Kapoor, Director – Industry & Public Affairs, FMC India Pvt Ltd.
• Mr. Rajeev YSR, Head Investment Promotion, APEDB
Remarks by Shri Arun Baroka, Secretary (Chemicals and Petrochemicals),
1825 – 1830 hrs
Ministry of Chemicals & Fertilizers, Government of India

Key discussion points

Mr. Mohammad Athar, Partner, PwC India moderated the session and gave a
brief introduction on India – US partnership focused on chemicals and
petrochemicals sector. The overall trade is doing extremely well having crossed
150 billion USD between the two nations. The trade in chemicals sector has
crossed 7 billion USD between India and USA. The intent of the discussion is to
cover what would be required for this partnership to continue following the
below points:
• Sustainability, green manufacturing, and the role of technology in this

• Regulatory scenario and ease of doing business so that

companies in the US can do business in India with more comfort

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Ms. Nivedita Mehra, Managing Director, India, USISPF highlighted the

following points:

• The bilateral trade has gone over 150 billion USD and there is
genuinely a movement for American companies to seriously
consider India as they diversify from China
• The conversation about secure supply chain is at the forefront of
their minds and while we have seen interest over the last few years,
we see it culminating now.

Mr. Rakesh Mehta, Director of ExxonMobil Chemicals in India, said:

• ExxonMobil has a long-standing commitment to India and has 3 decades

of operational legacy here. They have invested into R&D – Bangalore center
is looking into:
o Lifecycle of product
o Material utilization
o Waste management
o Emissions
• The company is focusing on plastic waste recycling. Technology to
reduce use of plastic by reducing the thickness of packaging
• Time taken for infrastructure around the plant is too long and starts only
after the plant is set-up and needs to be faster
Mr. Anil Bhatia, Vice President & Managing Director – India, Emerson, mentioned the following points:

• Emerson pioneered the engineering and innovation ecosystem in

India for the automation companies with more than 4,000 engineers
working in Pune, Delhi, and Chennai
• Technology is the need of the hour for the chemical industry. There
are 4 areas where the chemical industry will look at, namely –
productivity, safety, emissions, and technology. Technology that is
globally available should be provided in India rather than reinventing
the wheel.
• In the last 7-8 years, lot has changed and is also further going to
change boosting the trade relations between India and the US. Time
taken for infrastructure to develop around the plot/ land is done after the industry zone is
announced- which is different in other countries where the infrastructure is already in place before
the industry zone is set up.
• Need to adapt technology faster and readily available technology are key factors

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Ms. Preeti Jain, Director, Business Development and Government Relations, LanzaTech, highlighted
the following points:

• LanzaTech focuses on technology which uses waste carbon

material – Agri-residue, municipal solid waste, waste plastic
material or off gases and is converted to sustainable fuel
(ethanol). They are also working on bio-catalyst synthetic strains,
which is a biotechnological process to produce Isopropyl Alcohol
(IPA), Acetone, and many other commodity and specialty
chemicals.
• In India, currently the energy transition is happening, however, the
energy transition will not be complete it touches the chemical
industry. Industry must look for a new model, for example, 4-5
billion USD investment is required for a cracker, 40 or 50 plants can be set up using new
technologies which can enable energy decarbonization, DE fossilization and net zero targets
• ‘Make in India’ initiative is very important – making products for India, innovate using tremendous
resource pool of talent in India and deploy technology, not only for India but also for global markets
Mr. Raju Kapoor, Director – Industry & Public Affairs, FMC India Pvt Ltd.

• FMC is a global leader in crop protection and crop

management operating in India for last 3 decades
• Productivity levels of crops are 1/3rd or 1/2nd of the global best
and there is significant scope to move forward. Approximately
200,000 crore INR worth of crops gets wasted on pests every
year.
• FMC is working to move from product driven to solution driven
company to work with farmers throughout the crop life to
provide them solutions irrespective where the solution comes
from them or anywhere else
• Regulatory or registration timeline of 2-4 years is not
conducive for India as India has a very narrow product portfolio. Government should consider new
safer molecules that can be fast-tracked through the regulatory process
• Laws that are prohibiting them to hire women in the manufacturing plant for that role need to be
revisited and removed to promote employment of women in the manufacturing sector

Shri Arun Baroka, Secretary (Chemicals and Petrochemicals),

Ministry of Chemicals & Fertilizers, Government of India gave the
vote of thanks and assured the panellists that the points are well-
noted and will be followed up on.

Concluding Points:

• There is great excitement towards partnership for investment as well as trade in various sectors

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• Technology is available and affordable. It can be propagated, and a bit of policy push would be
required to achieve this.
• Multiple avenues to look over from the policy side – regulations to make it more inclusive,
technology diffusing, ready industrial clusters
• Few other elements to think about – innovative financing, IPR structure

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3.5. FICCI Chemicals & Petrochemicals Awards Distribution Function

Agenda
Day 1: Wednesday, 02nd November 2022
1900 - 2000 hrs FICCI Chemicals & Petrochemicals Awards Distribution Ceremony
Welcome Remarks by Mr. Deepak C Mehta, Chairman - FICCI Chemical Industry
1900 - 1910 hrs
Committee, Chairman Gujarat State Council and CMD, Deepak Nitrite Ltd.
Address by Shri Bhagwanth Khuba, Hon’ble Minister of State, Ministry of Chemicals
1910 - 1920 hrs & Fertilizers and Minister of State, Ministry of New & Renewable Energy, Government
of India
Chief Guest Address by Shri Mansukh Mandaviya, Hon’ble Union Minister of Health
1920 – 1930 hrs
& Family Welfare, Chemicals & Fertilizers, Government of India
1930- 2000 hrs FICCI Chemicals & Petrochemicals Awards Distribution
2000 hrs onwards Business Networking Dinner

List of Awardees 2022

S. No. Category Company
For Product Innovator of the Year
1 Chemicals Epsilon Carbon Private Limited
2 Chemicals Asian Paints Limited
3 Petrochemicals Reliance Industries Limited, Hoshiarpur Manufacturing Division
4 Petrochemicals Indian Oil Corporation Limited, R&D

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5 Petrochemicals Xpro India Limited, Barjora Unit II

For Manufacturing Process Innovator of the Year
6 Petrochemicals Engineers India Limited
For Sustainability in Best Green Product
7 Petrochemicals Reliance Industries Limited
For Sustainability in Best Green Process
8 Chemicals Rallis India Limited
9 Chemicals Inventys Research Company Private Limited
10 Petrochemicals Reliance Industries Limited
For Sustainability in Excellence in Safety
11 Chemicals Excel Industries Limited
12 Chemicals Clariant Chemicals Ltd, Cuddalore
13 Chemicals Rashtriya Chemicals & Fertilizers Limited, Trombay Unit
14 Chemicals National Peroxide Limited
15 Petrochemicals Indian Oil Corporation Limited
16 Petrochemicals Xpro India Limited, Barjora Unit II
For Efficiency in Energy Usage
17 Chemicals Grasim Industries Limited, Chemical Division-Ganjam
18 Chemicals DCM Shriram Limited, Unit: Jhagadia
19 Chemicals Gharda Chemicals Limited, Lote Division
20 Petrochemicals Brahmaputra Cracker and Polymer Limited
For Efficiency in Water Usage
21 Chemicals Uflex Limited – Chemical Business
22 Chemicals Jubilant Ingrevia Limited - Gajraula Plant
23 Chemicals The Dharamsi Morarji Chemical Co. Ltd., Roha
24 Petrochemicals Kothari Petrochemicals Limited
For Commendable Work for Changing Public Perception
25 Chemicals Jubilant Ingrevia Limited, Gajraula Plant
26 Chemicals Tagros Chemicals India Private Limited
27 Petrochemicals BASF India Private Limited
For the Most Environment- Friendly Company
28 Chemicals Godrej Industries – Chemical Division
29 Chemicals Aarti Industries Limited
30 Petrochemicals Reliance Industries Limited - Hazira Polyester Manufacturing Division
31 Petrochemicals HPCL-Mittal Energy Limited
For Excellence in Sub Sector
32 Agrochemicals UPL Limited, Unit-5
33 Agrochemicals UPL Limited, Unit-2, Ankleshwar
For Digitech front Runner of the Year
34 Chemicals Gharda Chemicals Limited, Lote Division
35 Chemicals Lanxess India Private Limited

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36 Petrochemicals Reliance Industries Limited

37 Petrochemicals Indian Oil Corporation Limited
For Excellence in Exports
38 Chemicals Insecticides India Limited
39 Chemicals Epsilon Carbon Private Limited
40 Chemicals Elkay Chemicals Private Limited
41 Chemicals Jeevan Chemicals Private Limited
42 Petrochemicals Reliance Industries Limited
For Promoting "Make in India"
Promoting “Make
43 Bharat Petroleum Corporation Limited, Kochi Refinery
in India”
For Company of the Year
44 Chemicals Navin Fluorine International Limited
45 Petrochemicals Reliance Industries Limited
46 Petrochemicals Indian Oil Corporation Limited
For Lifetime Contribution to the Industry
Lifetime
47 Shri. Chandrakant Gogri, Chairman-Emeritus, Aarti Industries Limited
Achievement
Lifetime
48 Shri. Purnendu Chatterjee, Chairman, Haldia Petrochemicals Ltd
Achievement

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4. Highlights from Day 2

4.1. Conclave on Dyestuff Industries

Agenda

Day 2: Thursday, 03rd November 2022

1000 – 1100 hrs Conclave on Dyestuff Industries

Moderation by Mr. Janak Mehta, President, Dyestuffs Manufacturer Association

Opening remarks by Shri Susanta Kumar Purohit, Joint Secretary (Chemicals),
1000 - 1005 hrs. Department of Chemicals & Petrochemicals, Ministry of Chemicals & Fertilizers,
Government of India
1005 - 1010 hrs. Industry perspective by Mr. Anjani Prasad, MD Archqroma India Pvt. Ltd.
CEOs Interaction
• Mr. Janak Mehta, Dyetex Corporation
• Mr. Jitendra Patel, K. Patel Chemo Pharma Pvt. Ltd.
• Dr. Shavak Bhumagara, Eskay Dyestuffs & Organic Chemicals Pvt. Ltd.
• Mr. Haresh Bhuta, Alps Chemicals Pvt. Ltd.
• Mr. Anjani Prasad, Archroma India Pvt. Ltd.
• Mr. Vatsal Naik, Mahavir Synthesis Pvt. Ltd.
1010 - 1050 hrs.
• Dr. G.V.G. Rao, Atul Ltd.
• Mr. Pravin Kabutarwala, Colourtex Industries Pvt. Ltd.,
• Mr. Vinod Singhania, Ravi Dyeware Co. Pvt. Ltd
• Mr. Natu M Patel, Chairman and Managing Director, Meghmani
• Mr. Greeven Kharawala, Jay Chemical Industries Ltd
• Mr. Yogesh Parikh, Avani Dyechem Industries
• Mr. Pankaj Mehta, Aarti Industries Ltd
Remarks by Shri Arun Baroka, Secretary, Department of Chemicals &
1050 - 1055 hrs.
Petrochemicals, Ministry of Chemicals & Fertilizers, Government of India
1055 - 1100 hrs. Vote of thanks by Mr. Jitendra Patel, (MD K. Patel Chemo Pharma Pvt. Ltd.)

Key discussion points

Moderation by Mr. Janak Mehta, President, Dyestuffs Manufacturer Association

Mr. Janak Mehta, President, Dyestuffs Manufacturer Association shared his insights which are highlighted
below:

• In India, this is the only industry which has 17% market share globally and is also export positive in the sense
that the foreign exchange we earn is much more than the foreign exchange we spend on importing raw
materials or finished goods. Among chemicals sub-sectors, colorants, agrochemicals, and generic pharma
are the only 3 sub-sectors which are export positive.
• China has about 29% global market share and India’s market size is about 6.7 billion USD while China’s
market size is more than 11 billion USD
• 5 areas have been identified which are needed to prepare a policy document for Vision 2047 are:

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o Raw material and feedstock

o Human resources and labor
o Market development
o Technical upgradation and innovation
o Environment
Mr. Anjani Prasad, MD Archroma India Pvt. Ltd., gave a perspective of the dyestuff industry and mentioned the
following points about what’s happening around in terms of the consumer industry:

• Market for America supplies for apparel is shifting to Central America

• Home textile market is huge in India and export volumes to the US are also high, however, there are no FTAs
in Europe to sell their product in this region
• In Denim area, the consumption is local and 20% of volumes is only exported, however, there is a lack of
skill in garment making and the quality in innovation especially in terms of sustainability
• In technical textiles, a lot of technology transfers are required in India
• In the paper industry, India is 14th in terms of pulp requirement globally.
However, with the plastic ban and shift of packaging material, is creating a
lot of things on innovation topics specifically on barrier coatings and the
packaging industry
• Leather industry is well developed in India, but it depends on the
fashion. Sustainable leather which comes from protein and other natural
sources will become very important to develop as an innovation topic for
influencing colorization.
• Detergent industry is also consuming a lot of dyes and pigments
• In the personal care and cosmetic segment, natural-based products are
coming in and natural color products should also be taken care of
• Agrochemicals need more sustainable pesticides, where neem and other based products will be there
• Cluster formation necessary (textile parks such as Tirupur) from end to end including Fiber to fabric to retail
• Measures to promote domestic capacity building for petrochemical intermediates (Import of chemicals such
as acetic acid to be reduced and domestic manufacturing units to be set up)
• Need for setting up open innovation portal through collaboration with research facilities and universities
• Promoting innovation and technology transfer in sustainable dyes and pigments
• In terms of developing the market, we are relying on brands from outside India. These brands are playing
around a lot as they are restricting a lot on their specifications and barriers created through certification. We
need to play the entire value game and need to put a lot of enterprises to play a brand game. For example,
in textiles, Aditya Birla and Reliance are the only two large players operating in this segment, however, there
is so much scope to play the big brand game.
• A lot of work must be done in terms of end-use industry in creating a brand with global recognition

Mr. Janak Mehta, President, Dyestuffs Manufacturer Association elaborated on few areas that had been
identified and are needed to prepare a policy document for Vision 2047

• Availability of feedstock at international prices will be the future growth

of colorant industry
• Feedstock should be identified in a judicious way where a decision
can be made cautiously on which products to be manufactured
domestically and which products to be imported
• Promote the production of naphthalene derivatives which were being
made in India for a long time and then shifted to China
• The period of investigation of anti-dumping duty proceedings is too
high.

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• Skill development program through Centers of Excellence (Studies available with the department to be
revised)
• Revision of labor laws including decriminalization of accidents
• Need to implement measures to improve exports
• Scheme/ policy to support the National Association to reach out directly to end users rather than traders
(like MDA/MAI scheme that is available to export promotion councils)
• Support for textile manufacturers (end-users) to develop global recognized brands that will help dye
manufacturers also develop strong brand
• Image building of the dyestuff and chemical industry overall
• Hazardous chemicals list needs to be revised because not all by-products of chemical industry are
hazardous; as per the Waste Management Act, all by-products from chemical industry is treated as
hazardous

Dr. G.V.G. Rao, Atul Ltd. talked about the following points:

• The dyes industry is growing at beyond double digits and India is only present in two segments – Sulphur
and Reactive. Globally, dispersed dyes are the biggest segment and is being used in athletic and sportswear
in a significant way.
• They approached the Government for PLI on anthraquinone
• In denim, India has self-reliance in Sulphur black, and India is also
exporting to global market. However, India doesn’t have a strong presence
in indigo
• Every day, there is a new requirement coming from the textile industry.
Last week, the limit on apparel fabrics was 20 ppm, while this week it is 10
pm and it may be 4 ppm next week. Understanding these limits and making
products to meet those requirements can be achieved through an innovation
forum. Government can take a role of aggregator by setting up a digital
platform/ portal to reduce transaction costs and connect with various dye manufacturers to understand
industry requirements.
• Funding support to universities to help upgrade and develop unit processes in dyes manufacturing to
increase efficiency of process
Mr. Vatsal Naik, Mahavir Synthesis Pvt. Ltd. talked about the following points:

• Naphthalene derivatives are essential for reactive and acid dyes. India was a
pioneer for naphthalene derivatives; however, this position was lost in the 90s
due to bad pricing
• We should focus on having the feedstock, majorly the naphthalene based one,
and India is not naphthalene surplus, and it is something to think about. India
imports around 30,000 MT per annum of beta-naphthol from China which is a
very large amount
Mr. Pankaj Mehta, Aarti Industries Ltd talked about the following points:

• The company will look at naphthalene derivatives such as beta-naphthol

and other chemicals to see how the viability of the project would be by connecting
with the dyes manufacturers
• Dyestuff industries is quite fragmented with various companies and
each having its own perspective. However, as a collective, it is difficult to gauge
and compete on the world scale. Government can take a role of aggregator by
setting up a digital platform/ portal to reduce transaction costs and also connect
with various dye manufacturers to understand industry requirements.
• CSR funding to be allowed to be used for R&D at recognized institutes/ universities

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Mr. Jasbir Singh, CEO, Amber Enterprises talked about the following points:

• Benzene, toluene, and naphthalene are key raw materials. Anthraquinone is also equivalently important,
and Indian production is currently suffering due to the availability of low-cost Chinese product. Anthracene
based vat dyes must be promoted to be manufactured locally
• Certain grants can be provided to CETPs for technology upgradation as they have been using old
technologies
• There should be a distinguishing factor between the violator and the law abider, as the industry suffers due
to few violators
• Rationalizing the deep-sea discharge norms

Mr. Yogesh Parikh, Avani Dyechem Industries talked about the following points:

• To achieve Zero Liquid Discharge (ZLD), the liquid is converted into gas and released into the air thus
polluting the air which is a challenge. Therefore, all CETPs should be given separate as per the requirement
• CTA amendment is required as it takes long time for approvals
• ECA amendment should be reviewed as there is no pollution
load and it takes long time
• CETPs has high TDS volumes, some % of untreated sewage
should be allowed to be mixed to bring COD and BOD levels down

Mr. Vatsal Naik, Mahavir Synthesis Pvt. Ltd. talked about the following points:

• Textiles and petrochemical industries are closely related where petrochemical companies provide the raw
materials for textile industry
• Textile is the 2nd largest employer and the most polluting industry. They are the biggest consumer of dyestuff
and research in this area is required so that the textile industry can reduce pollution. The buzzwords of the
industry are sustainability, circularity, and traceability
• India has slipped from 2nd position to 5th position in terms of export of textiles
• Besides the conventional textiles, there is a mission called, National Technical
Textile Mission (NTTM) which is basically research oriented in terms of
fundamental and applied research. In fundamental research, they are eyeing
for development of new fibers as India has limited production of high-quality
fibers such as aramids, ultra-high molecular weight polyethylene, glass fibers,
carbon fibers. Out of 1,000 crore INR, they have spent 240 crore INR as of 03rd
November 2022.
• Testing with dyes and chemicals is required and is very important as there are
stringent norms for testing if a company wants to export the product

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Shri Sujit Kumar Bajpayee, Joint Secretary, Ministry of Environment, Forest & Climate Chang,
Government of India talked about the following points:

• The issues highlighted by the key industry players were noted down and
it will be divided into two categories – directly related to EC and other
which is related to Air and Water Act
• On the EC front, the Environment Clearance is dealt in three stages:
o When you take a Terms of Reference for preparation of EIA
studies
o Compare the EIA studies and conduct public hearing, if required
o Come back to Government for Environmental Clearance
• Terms of Reference (Tor) for the chemicals sector is standard Tor.
Company can apply for Tor and get it instantly
• Preparation of EIA/ EMP studies once the Terms of Reference is taken,
next day the public hearing can be applied for. In case it is not required, company can directly apply for EC
• Some activities such as permanent fencing, construction of temporary sheds using prefabricated modular
structures, site office guards storing material machinery, provision of temporary electricity and water supply
for site office guards are allowed while working on the Terms of Reference
• The entire system is automated and visits to the office for clearances are not required. Can be done remotely
through video conferencing.
• In 2020, in the chemicals sector, the average EC approval time came down from 300 days to 118 days and
now it has come down to 62 days in 2021 and as on 02nd November 2022, it was 52 days

Discussion ended with a vote of thanks by Mr. Jitendra Patel, (MD K. Patel
Chemo Pharma Pvt. Ltd.)

Concluding Points:

• Average environment clearance time has come down from 300 days to
50 days
• Another meeting will be scheduled between industry representatives &
DCPC to further discuss on the challenges faced with respect to
environment or any other issues and the remedies to tackle these challenges

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4.2. Conclave on Global Agrochemical Industry

Agenda

Day 2: Thursday, 03rd November 2022

1400 – 1600 hrs. Conclave on Global Agrochemical Industry

About the Session:
Indian agrochemicals industry is identified as the Champion sector by the government of India and is
all set to align with best international practices and regulatory reforms. Indian government continues to focus
on the growth and development of Indian agriculture and sweeping changes are taking place in Indian
agriculture. With the discussion on growth drivers like policy reforms in accelerating the growth in the agriculture
sector, improved farmer awareness and incomes, the present scenario, and the way forward, stakeholders will
also talk about the self-reliant Indian agriculture sector in the session. The session will also focus on the key
issues with respect to destruction in the Supply Chain, Spurious Pesticides, Farmer’s Awareness, Training of
Farmers, etc. Some of the most critical success factors for global agrochemical companies like significant R&D
activities, strong brand equity, widespread distribution network, and a robust product pipeline will also be
touched upon.
Moderation by Mr. Ashok Varma, Partner, PwC India
Welcome Remarks by Shri Arun Baroka, Secretary (Chemicals and Petrochemicals),
1130 – 1135 hrs.
Ministry of Chemicals & Fertilizers, Government of India
Presentation by Shri RG Agarwal, Chairman, FICCI Crop Protection Committee &
1135 – 1140 hrs. Group Chairman, Dhanuka Agritech “Scope and opportunities in Indian Agrochemicals
industry”
1140 – 1145 hrs. Presentation by Mr. Ashok Varma, Partner, PwC India on “Industry Overview”
1145 – 1150 hrs. Keynote Perspective Mr. Vikram Shroff, Director, UPL Ltd.
Industry Interaction
Address by Mr. Natu M Patel, Chairman and Managing Director, Meghmani
• Mr. Simon-Thorsten Wiebusch, Executive Director, Bayer Crop Science
Limited & Country Division Head, Crop Science division of Bayer for India,
Bangladesh, and Sri Lanka
1150 – 1220 hrs. • Mr. Ankur Aggarwal, Managing Director, Crystal Crop Protection Ltd.
• Mr. Katsuyoshi Tanabe, Senior Manager, Agro Solutions Division, Mitsui
Chemicals
• Mr. Raju Kapoor, Director-Industry & Public Affairs, FMC India Pvt. Ltd.
• Mr. N S Barhat, CMD, Aristo Biotech and Lifescience Limited
• Mr. Anil Kakkar, Vice Chairman, CropLife India
Remarks by Shri Manoj Ahuja, Secretary, Department of Agriculture & Farmers
1220 – 1230 hrs.
Welfare, Government of India
Guest of Honor Address by Shri Bhagwanth Khuba, Hon’ble Minister of State, Ministry
1230 – 1240 hrs. of Chemicals & fertilizers and Minister of State, Ministry of New & Renewable Energy,
Government of India
Chief Guest Address by Shri Narendra Singh Tomar, Hon’ble Minister of Agriculture &
1240 – 1255 hrs.
Farmers Welfare, Ministry of Agriculture & Farmers Welfare, Government of India
Vote of Thanks by Mr. Simon Thorsten Wiebusch, Executive Director, Bayer
1255 – 1300 hrs. Cropscience Limited & Country Division Head, Crop Science division of Bayer for India,
Bangladesh, and Sri Lanka

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Key discussion points

Moderation by Mr. Ashok Varma, Partner, PwC India

Mr. RG Agarwal, Chairman FICCI - Crop Protection Committee and Group Chairman, Dhanuka
Agritech Ltd. felicitated Shri Narendra Singh Tomar, Hon’ble Minister of Agriculture & Farmers
Welfare, Ministry of Agriculture & Farmers Welfare, Government of India and Shri Manoj Ahuja,
Secretary, Department of Agriculture & Farmers Welfare, Government of India with green certificates.

Shri Arun Baroka, Secretary (Chemicals and Petrochemicals), Ministry of Chemicals & Fertilizers,
Government of India welcomed the chief guest and other dignitaries
to the session on Agrochemicals. He mentioned that the chemicals
sector is growing approximately 1.5 times greater than the GDP of
India. Sub-sectors such as specialty chemicals, agrochemicals and
dyes are growing at a faster rate compared to overall chemicals
industry in India. Exports are also on the rise with a few sub-sectors
being net exporters although the overall chemicals industry is a net
importer.

Shri RG Agarwal, Chairman, FICCI Crop Protection Committee & Group Chairman, Dhanuka Agritech
talked about the following points:

• Crop exports crossed 50 billion USD

• Globally, there are around 1,170 pesticides while in India, there are only
300 pesticides. It needs to be understood why foreign companies are not
bringing more products to India.
• Compared to China, 3% of pesticides is used in India
• Need support on regulatory clearance as the timelines for registering and
getting approval of new molecules is high
• Illicit trade of agrochemicals needs to be stopped and more stringent
rules should be in place
• New technology with green chemistry pesticides needs to be investigated

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Mr. Ashok Varma, Partner, PwC India talked about the following points:
• Agrochemicals is a 50,000 crore INR industry with approximately 36,000
crore INR generated from exports
• Low awareness from farmers about agrochemicals and they need to be
further educated
• In terms of policy and regulatory challenges, the timeline for registering
new molecules is very high.

Mr. Vikram Shroff, Director, UPL Ltd. talked

about the following points:
• Inflation in foreign countries gives opportunities to export food to those
countries
• In terms of trade surplus, agriculture is larger than pharmaceuticals

Mr. Simon-Thorsten Wiebusch, Executive Director, Bayer Crop

Science Limited & Country Division Head, Crop Science division of
Bayer for India, Bangladesh, and Sri Lanka highlighted that the
supply chain disruptions and energy crisis in Europe gives India the
opportunity to be an agricultural export hub.

Mr. Ankur Aggarwal, Managing Director, Crystal Crop Protection

Ltd. mentioned that India has been lacking in terms of R&D, however,
off late with all the recent initiatives, lot of companies are coming up
with various innovations and investing more into R&D.

Mr. Katsuyoshi Tanabe, Senior Manager, Agro Solutions

Division, Mitsui Chemicals mentioned that a balance between
generics and originals need to be maintained as currently,
generics dominate in India

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Mr. Raju Kapoor, Director-Industry & Public Affairs, FMC India Pvt. Ltd. talked about the
following points:

• To grow the industry, the most important factor that is

required currently in the industry is technique and technology
• Investment is required in cutting edge chemistry that will be
safe for crops, applicator, and environment
• Investment into biologicals is key
• Investments should be carried out combining cutting edge
chemistry and biologicals to achieve precision faming/ agriculture
• Fast-track mechanism should be in place for regulatory
approvals
Mr. N S Barhat, CMD, Aristo Biotech and Life science Limited highlighted
that the policies on farming need to be reviewed. For example,
glyphosates which are the most used agrochemical globally is banned in
India. Glyphosates are used in non-cropped areas. Safe and judicious
use of pesticides must be done by the applicator.

Mr. Anil Kakkar, Vice Chairman, CropLife India mentioned that

the policies on drones were fast-tracked and are now being
implemented. He also talked about well-qualified people with
degrees in agriculture working with small and marginal farmers.
Only if the weak link is uplifted, the productivity will increase
rapidly. He requested the Government to bring in a policy which
allocates certain regions to companies to increase the
productivity of small and marginal farmers promoting
sustainable technologies.

Shri Manoj Ahuja, Secretary, Department of Agriculture & Farmers Welfare, Government of
India talked about the decision to conduct a joint meeting between
the chemicals and agriculture Government and industry. One
meeting was already conducted in which a few key challenges were
discussed that could be resolved in the short term and few on the
policy and laws which would be long-term.
India has the potential to be a global player in terms of agrochemical
industry and it is sized at 60,000 crore INR currently out of which
53% is being exported and 47% is being used domestically. There is
also a potential for the size of exports to increase 10 folds.

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And end-to-end integrated package needs to be given to the farmer including providing
fertilizer, pesticides, precision farming techniques, etc. A policy framework can be worked on
where work can be done in certain villages where new technology, processes and products
can be provided including an entire integrated package solution.

It is necessary to provide the farmers with good quality fertilizer and pesticides and other
inputs. A system needs to be created with co-operatives, FPOs, etc. to share proper
knowledge and make the agrochemicals easily available to the farmers.

Shri Bhagwanth Khuba, Hon’ble Minister of State, Ministry of

Chemicals & fertilizers and Minister of State, Ministry of New &
Renewable Energy, Government of India talked about the comparison
of pharma for humans to agrochemicals for plants and the judicious
and regulated use of it is required. He also ensured the industry
leaders that their concerns have been considered and will be
discussed further in detail to find solutions around the challenges
faced in the agrochemicals industry
Shri Narendra Singh Tomar, Hon’ble Minister of Agriculture &
Farmers Welfare, Ministry of Agriculture & Farmers
Welfare, Government of India highlighted the importance
of the role of agrochemicals in farming. It is the case that,
at times, to predicate, understand and assert the requests,
the time taken is too long, however under the leadership of
Shri Narendra Modi, the speed to identify the challenge and
come up with solutions has been faster and solution has
always been reached at.
He also highlighted that the situation of India has changed
itself and its position globally as well and it has been
possible only because of the strength of the industry players combined with the leadership of
Shri Narendra Modi and the Government of India. With the growth of the farmers, the
production and productivity of the nation also grows. Awareness of the right usage of fertilizers
and pesticides should be given to farmers. At one point in time, irrigation techniques were
available, however, the electricity required for irrigation was not available.
He also further mentioned that any joint discussions that would be required with the industries
and other ministries of the Government, they will support that and make sure they tend to the
challenges of the industry and try to come up with solutions.
Discussion ended with vote of thanks by Mr. Simon Thorsten Wiebusch, Executive Director,
Bayer Crop Science Limited & Country Division Head, Crop Science division of Bayer for India,
Bangladesh, and Sri Lanka.
Concluding Points:

• Image building for the agriculture and the industry inside and outside the country is very
important

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• We should ensure access to the newest – digital, but also chemical and trade
technologies to Indian farmers and make India globally competitive and drive towards
country’s visions

• India should take advantage of the current energy crises in Europe and capitalize on
chemical projects

• Policies related to farming need to be reviewed and chemicals such as glyphosates

which are the most used agrochemical globally are to be unrestricted in India.

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4.3. Conclave on Global Petrochemicals Industry

Agenda

Day 2: Thursday, 03rd November 2022

1400 – 1600 hrs Conclave on Global Petrochemical Industry

About the Session:
The session will witness policymakers and industry captains discussing the global outlook, key trends, and
synergy between the regions (access to Gulf Cooperation Council Reserves) to develop the Petrochemical
Industry. The session will also focus on the strategies to enhance domestic production by balancing the
dependence on imports to become truly self-reliant (Aatmanirbhar), Unlocking the new value opportunities,
achieving excellence, and leveraging the synergy between Petroleum and Petrochemicals.
Moderation by Ms. Azzah Fawzi, Partner, PwC Dubai
Welcome Remarks by Shri Arun Baroka, Secretary (Chemicals and Petrochemicals),
1330 – 1332 hrs.
Ministry of Chemicals & Fertilizers, Government of India
Industry Perspective by Mr. Prabh Das, Chairman- FICCI Petrochemicals Committee
1332 – 1335 hrs.
and MD & CEO, HPCL Mittal Energy Ltd.
1335 – 1340 hrs. Sectoral Overview Presentation by Ms. Azzah Fawzi, Partner, PwC Dubai
Industry Interaction
• Mr. Avinash Verma, President - Operations, Petrochemicals, Reliance
Industries Limited
• Mr. Rajesh Samarth, Vice President – Managing Director, Lummus
• Dr. Shishir Sinha, Director General, CIPET
• Mr. Deepak C Mehta, Chairman and Managing Director, Deepak Nitrite Ltd.
1340 – 1405 hrs.
• Mr. Janardhanan Ramanujalu, Vice President, Regional Head- South Asia &
Australia, SABIC India
• Mr. Gurinder Singh, MD, Opal
• Mr. MV Iyer, (Director Business Development) GAIL India Ltd.
• Shri Sujoy Choudhury, Director (Planning & Business Development), Indian
Oil Corporation Ltd.
Address by Shri Pankaj Jain, Secretary, Ministry of Petroleum & Natural Gas,
1405 – 1410 hrs.
Government of India
Guest of Honor Address by Shri Bhagwanth Khuba, Hon’ble Minister of State, Ministry
1410 – 1415 hrs. of Chemicals & fertilizers and Minister of State, Ministry of New & Renewable Energy,
Government of India
Chief Guest Address by Shri Hardeep S Puri, Hon'ble Minister of Petroleum and Natural
1415 – 1425 hrs. Gas & Housing and Urban Affairs, Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas, Government
of India
Vote of Thanks by Shri Deepak Mishra, Joint Secretary (Petrochemicals), Department
1425 – 1430 hrs.
of Chemicals and Petrochemicals, Government of India

Key discussion points

Moderation by Ms. Azzah Fawzi, Partner, PwC Dubai

Shri Arun Baroka, Secretary (Chemicals and Petrochemicals), Ministry of Chemicals & Fertilizers, Government
of India welcomed the chief guest and other dignitaries to the session. He also talked about the importance of

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petrochemicals in the chemicals and petrochemicals industry – value, volume, historical nature of petrochemicals
which is why they scheduled this exclusive session on petrochemicals.

Mr. Prabh Das, Chairman- FICCI Petrochemicals Committee and MD & CEO,
HPCL Mittal Energy Ltd. talked about the following points:

• Government needs to work towards encouraging companies both

domestic and foreign to set up units in India and encourage existing
manufacturers to expand capacity due to the high market growth potential
• Target should be to meet domestic requirement and export products to
cater to global demand

Ms. Azzah Fawzi, Partner, PwC Dubai talked about the following points:

• Growth of petrochemicals industry in India is 1.5 times the growth of GDP of India
• There needs to be increased diversified usage of feedstock and not just dependent
on C2 and C3 streams
• Integration across the value chain from upstream to downstream is necessary
• Supply demand gap in 2025 is large and this will lead to R&D opportunities,
strategic investments, and joint ventures/ collaborations
• Changing the strategy to be more sustainably focused gives the opportunity to
lower costs, increase top line, and provide new potential opportunity and value to
the company
Mr. Rajesh Samarth, Vice President – Managing Director, Lummus highlighted
the major challenge with circularity being sourcing the right kind of feedstock and
not having the undesired material in it. The industry as such, including
manufacturers and packaging companies, need to come together and put such a
recycling system in place and decide where the waste will go and end up. The
right kind of technology is required to sort the materials for recycling.

Dr. Shishir Sinha, Director General, CIPET mentioned that there are three
major factors when it comes to different kinds of innovation – energy,
environment, and economics. He also talked about the importance of
understanding the market before investing in R&D.

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Mr. Deepak C Mehta, Chairman and Managing Director, Deepak Nitrite Ltd.
talked about the following points:

• The mindset of people is that petrochemicals market encompasses only

PP and PE, however, awareness needs to be increased about the potential
and various product lines of the petrochemicals industry
• In the Polyethylene (PE) and Polypropylene (PP) markets, China is 4
times and 6 times bigger than India respectively
• In the Polyvinylchloride (PVC) and Acrylonitrile Butadiene Styrene
(ABS) market, China is bigger than India by 18 times
• Major challenge is to ensure important feedstock such as ethylene and propylene is available
• Make tank farms available at ports for ethylene and propylene storage
Shri Hardeep S Puri, Hon'ble Minister of Petroleum and Natural Gas & Housing and Urban Affairs, Ministry of
Petroleum and Natural Gas, Government of India talked about the following points:

• Ensure the industry leaders that the Government of India will connect with Oil Marketing Companies (OMCs)
to understand how to convert feedstock challenges to opportunities
• 600 million people in urban cities and economy growing at 7%
• Approximately 25% of global energy requirement is projected be
from India by 2040
• Policies on exploration and production in sedimentary basins have
been rolled out
• Refining capacity is forecasted to increase from 251 MMTPA to 400
MMTPA by 2040
• Shifting from coal based to gas based and renewable based energy. The blending capacity of biofuels have
also increased
• Per capita consumption of chemicals is 1/10th of global consumption
• India is a net importer for chemicals except for benzene and polyester

Mr. Janardhanan Ramanujalu, Vice President, Regional Head- South Asia &
Australia, SABIC India talked about the following points:

• Low carbon technologies are a major challenge

• Need to work on electrification of processes – low intensity water consumption,
low intensity electricity usage, low carbon technologies etc.

Mr. Gurinder Singh, MD, Opal talked about the following points:

• Industry perception should change for plastics and awareness of the positives
of the industry should be spread among the common population
• End consumer awareness should be increased and sensitized that industry it
not the problem, but what happens after is the major challenge

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Mr. MV Iyer, (Director Business Development) GAIL India Ltd. talked about necessity
to build infrastructure of pipelines to transport fuel/ gas from ports to facilities that are
far away from ports

Discussion ended with vote of thanks by Shri Deepak Mishra, Joint Secretary
(Petrochemicals), Department of Chemicals and Petrochemicals, Government of India

Concluding Points:

• Large number of opportunities exist in petrochemicals sector and it’s time to

grab these opportunities to make India the leading petrochemical player in the
world

• Sustainability is becoming an overarching principle of business today

• Access to low carbon technology at affordable cost is important to enable sustainability in the
petrochemicals sector

• Capacities for downstream specialty chemicals needs to be developed and given importance. Access to
olefinic feedstocks has been the roadblock for the development. It is important to develop tank farms at
ports for the imports of these feedstocks.

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4.4. Conclave on Process, Plant Machinery, Pumps & Valves

Agenda

Day 2: Thursday, 03rd November 2022

1400 – 1530 hrs. Conclave on Process, Plant Machinery, Pumps & Valves
About the Session:
The Process Plant Machinery, Pumps & Valves Roundtable session involves the opinions mapping of
Stakeholders and drawing actionable initiatives to create an impactful difference for the industry through the
benefit from growing technology adoption and innovations, collaboration across geographies and supportive
ecosystem, specifically in post- covid era. India’s industrial sector is likely to register a growth of 11.8% in 2021-
2022, spurred by consistent efforts of the government to bring in various infrastructural, fiscal, and structural
reforms and foreign direct investment inflow. The India process plant machinery market will reach USD 7.7
billion in 2027 from USD 4.8 billion in 2021. The process plant machinery market is mainly driven by the
increase in domestic and manufacturing output and a growing number of opportunities in key end-user
industries with Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) inflow.

The stakeholders will deliberate on the strategies to boost the sector by offering insight on the prevailing
Geopolitical situation, domestic and export opportunities, technology adoption and exchange, need for
innovation, necessary policy changes, developing economic and business relationship with emerging countries
for collaboration meeting global standards and guidelines.
Moderation by Mr. Karan Chechi, Director, TechSci Research (Knowledge Partner for PVPE roundtable)
Welcome address by Shri Susanta Kumar Purohit, Joint Secretary (Chemicals),
1400 – 1405 hrs. Department of Chemicals & Petrochemicals, Ministry of Chemicals & Fertilizers,
Government of India
Industry perspective by Mr. K Nandakumar, Chairman, FICCI – PVPE Committee and
1405 – 1415 hrs.
Chairman & Managing Director, Chemtrols Industries
Global Perspective by Mr. Sitanshu B Bhatt, Director, Global Procurement Centre India
1415 – 1425 hrs.
(GPCI), Linde Engineering India Pvt Ltd.
Discussion on theme: Technology, Innovation, and Collaboration in a supportive
ecosystem: A paradigm shift of India’s process plant machinery, pumps & valves
industry
• Mr. K. Nandakumar, Chairman & Managing Director, Chemtrols Industries Pvt
Ltd.
• Mr. Sitanshu B Bhatt, Director, Global Procurement Centre India (GPCI), Linde
Engineering India Pvt Ltd.
• Mr. Kaushik Banerjee, General Manager – Marketing & Business
Development, Larsen & Toubro
1425 – 1510 hrs. • Dr. Vijay Chaudhry, President, Bry-Air (Asia) Pvt. Ltd.
• Mr. Tim Wilkins, Business Unit Leader | Asia Pacific, Flexim
• Mr. Lalit Mohan, Managing Director, Flexim India
• Mr. Bharat Ajwani, Managing Director, Tecnik Valves
• Mr. Raghunath P Tate, National Manager – Learning, Armstrong International
• Mr. Vaishnav Nigam, AGM, Armstrong International
• Mr. Dinesh Satheesan, President & Chief Marketing Officer, Sanmar
Engineering Technologies
• Mr. Anurag Sharma, Business Consultant- EMG, Parker Hannifin India Pvt.
Ltd.

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• Mr. Pushpendra Singh Jadon, Head Sales & Marketing, ISGEC TITAN
METAL FABRICATORS
• Mr. Prashant Mishra, National Sales Manager - Chemicals & Petrochemicals,
Premier Tech
• Mr. Sanjeev Babyloni, Managing Director, Errand Enterprises
• Mr. Naishadh Bhatt, Business Development Manager – EMG(India), Parker
Hannifin India Pvt Ltd.
• Mr. Manoj Gupta, National Sales Manager, Bry- Air (Asia) Pvt Ltd.
• Mr. Vikram Anand, - Manager Business Development, IEC Fabchem Ltd.
• Mr. OM Mhaske, Executive Director, Mask Seal
• Mr. Shashi Shekar, Senior Vice President, Epsilon Carbon Pvt. Ltd.
Address by Shri Vikas Dogra, Deputy Secretary, Ministry of Heavy Industries,
1510 – 1515 hrs.
Government of India
*Release of Knowledge Paper
1515 – 1525 hrs. Chief Guest: Address by Shri Krishan Pal, Hon’ble Minister of State, Ministry of Heavy
Industries, Government of India*
Vote of Thanks by Mr. Dinesh Satheesan, President & Chief Marketing Officer, Sanmar
1525 – 1530 hrs.
Engineering Technologies

Key discussion points

Moderation by Mr. Karan Chechi, Director, TechSci Research (Knowledge Partner

for PVPE roundtable)

Shri Susanta Kumar Purohit, Joint Secretary (Chemicals), Department of Chemicals & Petrochemicals, Ministry
of Chemicals & Fertilizers, Government of India gave the welcome address and
spoke about the availability of technical personnel at competitive rates, growing
demand with opportunity in the domestic as well as export market, business
friendly policies by central and state governments inviting investments in the
various industries. There are few challenges that are prevalent in this sector
and the Government is acting with need for:

o R&D
o New technologies
o Making process more environment-friendly
He also indicated that the rate of growth of the industry is very high, and the
key points discussed during the session will be investigated and they will work together with the industry to move
the industry forward, accelerate this process of improvement, bringing in more investment, and improve our
export potential.

Mr. K Nandakumar, Chairman, FICCI – PVPE Committee and Chairman & Managing Director, Chemtrols
Industries highlighted the following points:

• 40 years ago, when a refinery was built in India, hardly 10% of the equipment was made in India including
process plants, pumps, valves. However, today, in a refinery, 90% of the equipment is produced in the country
and in a petrochemical plant, 85% of the equipment is produced domestically. In 40 years, India has come

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of age and there is no doubt that India can become a global manufacturing hub
for process plants and equipment in the coming years
• There is a need for integrated efforts by the government and other
stakeholders to grow the industry
• All chemical and petrochemical plants undergo reactions at various
processing parameters including temperature, pressure, emissions,
vaporization, etc. which may lead to corrosion. These are a few areas where
critical monitoring is required.
• In the present scenario, around 2.25 trillion USD is GDP of India with
capital goods around 15% and process plants will be around 6 billion USD in
2021. Per capita income of India is hovering around 1,850 – 1,900 USD. For a country with a 1.3 billion
population and sustainable development, the per capita income should be around the range of 6,000 USD
by 2047. The GDP would be around 30 trillion USD, out of which capital goods is 15% and process plants
should account for approximately 1.1 trillion USD.
• By 2027, to achieve a 5 trillion-dollar economy in which 700-800 billion USD should be capital process plants
which is achievable as the growth of the process industry (refining and petrochemicals) comes from African
and Sahara regions. India has developed a lot of credentials in that region by being a principal supplier to
refinery in Nigeria. India can be a preferred process plant and equipment vendor to global refiners and
petrochemical manufacturers.
• Today, the growth potential is controlled by certain factors beyond what is technology, innovation, and
development, namely – Environment, Societal and Governance which will drive global business.
• To cater to the global market, global standards must be met which are already in place as Indian standards
have majorly been derived from global standards
• There are certain areas where some work is required, especially on the instrumentation and control, testing
laboratories need to be integrated globally and certification bodies need to have global accreditation
• Looking at the future, to sustain global business, digitalization is the most important aspect. There has been
a lot of focus from the Government to promote digitization including development of 40 skill councils, provision
of software tools necessary, however, there has been hesitation from the industry to adopt digitalization
maybe due to conventional manufacturing methods
• Connectivity, data accusation, data management, integration and people & skill are few key areas to focus
on in skill development and digitalization. A roadmap is to be formed by the Government working together
with FICCI and the skill development council to develop a platform that can be used by Small, Medium and
Large Enterprises.
• With the target set by the Government of India of net zero by 2070, the process plant and machinery need
to work sector wise to achieve this target. Lot of emphasis by the chemical process industries such as
refineries, petrochemical plants, fertilizer units, to go into net zero unit wise. Critical areas to work on are
carbon capture technology and metallurgy.
Mr. Sitanshu B Bhatt, Director, Global Procurement Centre India (GPCI), Linde Engineering India Pvt Ltd. talked
about ‘Make in India’, support from Government in terms of policies and
initiatives. India has excellent manufacturing making use of all digitalization
platforms. There are still some specialized areas where India is dependent
on the imports and therefore need to focus more on R&D.

Age-old processes from 1960s and 1970s are still being used which are
not being audited. Upgradation of these technologies will infuse speed and
scalability. If this is done and then combined with digitization such as IoT,
ML and AI which will facilitate it forward and multiply it in terms of the
performance.

In FY 2021-2022, 4.5 billion USD is from this category of equipment, out

of which, 75-80% is being exported. Feedback from global clients is very
important and has been mixed. Maintaining these market numbers today itself requires a lot of effort. There is a

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problem with what we sell, we execute and what we deliver as all these 3 things are not in line. Therefore, there
is a need for consistency and sustainability of the commitment made to the supplies, specifically foreign supplies.

It was suggested that out of the 2% expenses allocated from a business to social responsibility, 1% can be routed
to Research & Development.

He further concluded by saying, “Industry must sensitize on quality and delivery while cost is competitive in India.
If our quality and deliveries are sustained and consistent, sky is the limit. Equipment reliability, availability,
operability, and safety are very important aspects.”

Roundtable Interaction
Mr. Manoj Gupta, National Sales Manager, Bry-Air (Asia) Pvt. Ltd. talked
about the global supply chain disruptions affecting the India market and how
Bry-Air (Asia) Pvt. Ltd. is managing adequate supply of critical raw materials
for the equipment. For example, they got a good order from a European
country, and they introspected knowing the challenges they will face from the
supply chain point of view. They came out with some strategies to change their
five strategies of supply chain and they came back with a solution that if they
are going to come up with an ecosystem supply chain also, keeping in mind
the backup of the suppliers, inventory management, and a contingency plan
with the stakeholders within the organization. Hence, they could manage the
delivery within 4 weeks minimizing the time.

Creating a supply chain ecosystem is the one green area where the companies must work by different ways and
means knowing their strengths in the organization and improvement areas.

Mr. Kaushik Banerjee, General Manager – Marketing & Business Development, Larsen & Toubro talked about
the different strategies that can be followed to ensure businesses can survive
during crises like COVID-19 and the key expectations of supply chain participants
in the industry. The company managed to maintain 100% delivery of equipment
during the COVID-19 lockdown restrictions. Majority of the equipment is exported
outside India. The company aims to position themselves as the world’s #1
fabrication company and currently, L&T is among the top 3 fabrication companies
globally.

One major change the company has undertaken in recent times is the adoption of
Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT) and digitalization where most of the activities on
the shop floor are being automated, which has increased productivity many folds.
During the lockdown, the company also had to reduce the manpower intensity such that work would go on, but
at the same time not endangering lives. All these mechanisms that were put in place will be sustained over a
period and even if another crisis is to happen in the future, the company is equipped to face these challenges.

Lot of raw materials used to manufacture equipment are sourced from outside India from regions such as Europe,
Japan and elsewhere. The company is trying to see how best the procurement of these materials can be localized
to overcome difficulties of getting shipments done, logistics challenges, and restrictions from importing from China
and other places.

They are also promoting their vendors to adopt digitalization and automation techniques that can integrate and
develop an ecosystem so that everyone can work in a synchronized and harmonious way to deliver the product
in the best possible manner.

Mr. Dinesh Satheesan, President & Chief Marketing Officer, SanMar Engineering Technologies talked about
ways to be less dependent on the global supply chain and utilize indigenous products. He mentioned that during
the COVID crisis, US China trade war, geopolitical situation during the last 3 years have put a strain on the global
supply chain and they have realized that it is very fragile.

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The company in the early days of its business adopted a method of setting
up Joint Ventures with leading companies in the world that manufacture flow
control products and solutions and they have been successful in running this
set-up.

There is a need to import foreign technology and the operations should be

managed here to produce the products and supply to the Indian industries.

One of the challenges was that they were still dependent on imports for
certain components. Their foundry was also dependent on scrap materials
and alloying elements. With the Swiss blockage, material movement was a
problem. So, they worked on making a backup inventory pileup as a short-
term solution. They tried to work with their end-users and suppliers, giving them prior notification of possible
spikes in demand and preparing them to be ready for this situation. The customers were also very supportive in
terms of helping manage inventory at their end also.

They also shifted suppliers from Europe and Japan to India for certain products like fluoropolymers which go into
sealants. They were able to source locally and customize it according to their requirements and quality standards.

He concluded by saying that more products that are being imported should be produced domestically, onshore
those manufacturing here so that our dependence on imports is less.

Mr. Sanjeev Babyloni, Managing Director, Errand Enterprises discussed the

expectations when the company imports and expectations when the
company exports. One of the key factors that is looked at today is quality and
anybody who is buying equipment expects a good quality product. The
players in India have come a long way in terms of improvement of quality,
however, there is still scoped to improve quality and still not reached the
stage of 100% quality.

The company exported its product to a well-reputed party in India. They then
outsourced it to a smaller party which was then further outsourced to a
smaller party. The material was third party inspected and exported it and
when it reached the site in a European country, there were certain quality issues and when they went down the
line to find out where the issues came from, at the lowest level, there was certain level of mess up which then
resulted in everyone getting a bad name. The equipment was meant to be exported back to India and when it
came back, the company attended to it and fixed up the issues which was majorly corrosion and metallurgy
related.

Where the product is outsourced to an MSME and the quality of the product is expected to be good, there needs
to be certain improvements in maintaining quality standards. The companies which are manufacturing in India,
and which is a manufacturing hub for Indian industry as well as global industry, the quality is generally maintained
well, but when the company majorly focuses on supplying to Indian industry, there is certain amount of
compromise on the quality.

Mr. Anurag Sharma, Business Consultant- EMG, Parker Hannifin India Pvt. Ltd. spoke about the advantages of
being a global name over domestic companies and the key challenges when doing business in India and in export
markets. He mentioned that we have a kind of bias towards global brands built over the years due to nurturing,
education, societal pressure, among others. The first thing that comes to everybody’s mind in terms of global
brands is reliability and quality. All companies either are like a global brand or want to become like a global brand
either in terms of aspiration or intent.

Few of the advantages of being a global brand are listed below:

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• Acceptance is one of the key advantages for global brands. There

is no resistance or reluctance from companies to enter the plant even
unscheduled.

• When people buy products from global brands, they have some
areas of their concerns eliminated – that it’s going to perform, and it
has reliability and can focus on other areas of plant operations

The only area of concern for global brands is the cost, however, luckily
with Government initiatives, since liberalization in 1991, there have
been a lot of changes happening in the industry and lot of companies
are showing promise in coming to India.

India is in a unique position between Germany and Japan to be one of the 2 or be better than the two.
This should be the aspirational requirement for the Indian industry to be their own benchmark, rather
than taking benchmark from Germany or Japan.

One key point of concern is the quality of infrastructure such as roads in front of industrial parks and
estates which needs to be developed by the Government

Mr. Naishadh Bhatt, Business Development Manager – EMG(India),

Parker Hannifin India Pvt Ltd. mentioned that when global companies
come to India, they have an objective of either market acquisition or
mitigate the supply chain challenges. When they come to India, they bring
not only the product but also the processes which drives the quality output.

He further highlighted that our standards should not define the parameters
but the process standards which will help us to be equivalent to the global
standards of other countries to compete at a global level. The next
important thing which other industries are doing is cluster development.
This industry should also focus on that and to boost up production in India, these clusters need to be
developed with good infrastructure. Government should also work on what the company invests in
during R&D and expansion also apart from providing benefits, that will encourage global companies to
invest more money to the Indian market and Indian manufacturing services.

Mr. Shashi Shekar, Senior Vice President, Epsilon Carbon Pvt. Ltd.
talked about the key challenges to adopt sustainable energy in India. In
terms of renewable energy, the major challenge is the CAPEX on what
you invest and how far you get the benefit for which the Government’s
help is required. We also need to investigate the use of renewable energy
with the core sectors. Integrating the usage of energy from one plant to
another. For example, excess steam from one plant, if one can develop
an energy cycle to use that steam.

In terms of policy, they require support from the Government if they are
investing in CAPEX for any energy saving, that should be either subsidized or interest benefit to be
provided.

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Mr. OM Mhaske, Executive Director, Mask Seal talked about how India
can make significant progress to adopt sustainable energy as India is
playing a major role in shaping the sustainable development goals. India’s
target of 500 GW renewable energy by 2030 will help in bringing down
emissions as currently, 75% of India’s electricity is produced by coal which
is contributing to the increase of Carbon Dioxide in the air.

Government has already offered subsidies in terms of renewable energy;

however, the subsidies need to be advertised and more benefits on
subsidies can be offered to promote adoption of renewable energy by all
industries.
Mr. Pushpendra Singh Jadon, Head Sales & Marketing, ISGEC TITAN
METAL FABRICATORS, talked about the growth moment in fabrication
industry. In the last 4 years, there has been high growth in the tantalum and
niobium market in India which was not there earlier. The downtime is very
important for the industry and the industry is somehow realizing that factor and
they are upgrading the metallurgies from Hastelloy and silicon carbide to
metals such as tantalum and niobium. There is a paradigm shift towards
tantalum which is also sustainable. Reactive metal and exotic metallurgy have
been booming for the last 4 years.

The chemical industry with ‘China+1’ concept is getting orders from BASF,
Bayer, and other players to make fine chemicals which was earlier manufactured in China. They have their own
specifications on what metallurgies are to be used and these exotic metallurgies are coming into the picture more
and more. There is an increase in demand in India and a lot of projects are coming up as the industry is booming.

None of the raw materials (Titanium, Zirconium, Tantalum and Niobium) are available domestically, and are
therefore being imported. The duty structure is not very suitable as raw material is being imported at a higher
duty. China is currently not exporting Zirconium to India and therefore, it must be sourced from Europe or US,
where the price is 30-40% more expensive than China.

Mr. Prashant Mishra, National Sales Manager - Chemicals & Petrochemicals,

Premier Tech talked about Make in India solution, and it ask to deliver lot of
automation projects for leading Indian Chemical & Petrochemical companies. For
example, in the last 3 years, the company has provided 10 complete automation
solutions to leading Indian petrochemical sectors. They developed a local
automation solution through their satellite manufacturing process from their global
team and delivered the project. They also offer 100% Make in India solutions to
other sectors such as carbon black and food and beverage. Reducing the import
burden for critical components of this sector equipment and encouraging them to
improve the export market and increase margins.

Mr. Tim Wilkins, Business Unit Leader | Asia Pacific, Flexim mentioned about the
India market from an external perspective. India is a low cost and price competitive
market and the quality of products from Make in India initiative is very important and
needs to be focused on. Companies should focus on best practices and make sure
that it can be competitive on a quality standpoint as well for the rest of the market.

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Mr. Vikram Anand, - Manager Business Development, IEC Fabchem Ltd. talked
about the competitiveness of the products from India at a price and quality standpoint.
The competitiveness in terms of price is very high, however, the competitiveness in
terms of quality is not that high. Since most Indian companies are manufacturing for
Indian customers, the demand for quality from the customer side is very low but the
demand for more competitive price is very high. Companies need to look at the
lifecycle cost of the product and not just the price of the product now.

To produce high quality products that can compete at a global level, the Indian
customer must be more stringent and demand quality when buying equipment from
Indian manufacturers. Few companies cater to the domestic market as well as export
market, however the type of customer is of two – Indian customers require low price while foreign customers
require high quality.

The adoption of technology is going to have a positive impact; however, the question really is how technology
pervades into the industry. In countries such as Germany and Netherlands, there is a strong industry and
academia interface where the technology flows from the academia to the industry. Taking view of Europe, the
industry should be given an opportunity to set agendas and drive research in research institutions.

In response to Mr. Vikram Anand’s comment on industry academia interface, Shri Susanta Kumar Purohit
highlighted that the Government is working on a portal to connect research institutions and the industry to create
a synergy and align the academic institution with the industry

Shri Vikas Dogra, Deputy Secretary, Ministry of Heavy Industries, Government of

India talked about the formation of ecosystem for technology, innovation, and
collaboration. There are 3 main components for innovation:

• Industry to come forward with practical problems

• Academia where the talent is available, infrastructure is almost there, however,
the application of that research into the market is not available
• Student who will carry forward this torch in the future
Government of India thinks that innovation is an industry driven program and
Government is there only to handhold. There is a challenge with the confidence of
industry towards institutes whether they will be able to come up with the solution that the industry is seeking.
Another challenge is confidentiality as it is a very competitive market, companies are in a very closed shell to
share their data and information.

The government tried to make a linkage between academia and industry. In phase I, one of the verticals was
Technology, Innovation Platforms (TIPs) where 6 platforms have been made by IIT Madras (focusing on robotics),
CMTI, ICAT, ARI, BHEL (focusing on heavy industries) and HMT (in collaboration with IISC Bangalore). Each
platform catered to a novel idea.

As of 03rd November 2022, 72,000 students, academia and industries have logged in and they have given 144
grant challenges, out of which, 34 futuristic technologies have already been sanctioned. In January 2022, this
was carried forward and in phase-II of the scheme and already, the Government has sanctioned 28 projects
worth 900 crore INR in the last 10 months and disbursed 95 crore INR already.

To conclude the session, the knowledge paper for PVPE roundtable conference in collaboration with FICCI and
TechSci Research was released by Shri Susanta Kumar Purohit, Joint Secretary (Chemicals), Department of
Chemicals & Petrochemicals, Ministry of Chemicals & Fertilizers, Government of India.

Concluding Points:

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• Replacing old pumps and valves, which are energy guzzlers, with energy efficient machines is very
important and access to capital is necessary for it

• The duty structure needs to be revised to have access to raw materials such as Titanium, Zirconium,
Tantalum and Niobium, at an economical rate.

• Indian companies have tremendous capabilities to develop quality products. Companies now need to
look at the lifecycle cost of the product and not just the price of the product now.

• Government has offered subsidies in terms of renewable energy; however, the subsidies need to be
advertised to enable awareness in the industry

• Suggestions on having a separate ministry discussion with all the manufacturing sectors’ representative
(chemical, steel, power etc.) to devise solutions is necessary to overcome the challenges

4.5. India – EU Chemicals & Petrochemicals Forum

Agenda

Day 2: Thursday, 3rd November, 2022

1530 - 1700 hrs India – EU Chemicals & Petrochemicals Forum

About the Session:
The EU and India share common values and interests in each other's security, prosperity, and sustainable
development. India’s bilateral trade with EU amounted to USD 116.36 billion in 2021-22. Despite the global
disruptions, bilateral trade achieved an impressive annual growth of 43.5% in 2021-22. Currently EU is India’s
second largest trading partner after US, and the second largest destination for Indian exports. The trade
agreement with EU would help India in further expanding and diversifying its exports of goods and services,
including securing the value chains. Both sides are aiming for the trade negotiations to be broad-based,
balanced, and comprehensive, based on the principles of fairness and reciprocity.
Moderation by Mr. Amit Kaushal, Executive Director, PwC
Opening Remarks by Shri Susanta Kumar Purohit, Joint Secretary (Chemicals),
1530 - 1540 hrs. Department of Chemicals & Petrochemicals, Ministry of Chemicals & Fertilizers,
Government of India
1540 - 1550 hrs. Address by Mr. Amit Kaushal, Executive Director, PwC
Industry Interaction (45 mins.)
• Mr. Mukesh Malhotra, Country Manager & Managing Director Solvay
Specialities India Pvt Ltd.
• Mr. Suresh Ramachandran, Country Head & Managing Director Arkema
India
• Mr. Pramod Bhandari, Chief Financial Officer, IG Petrochemicals
1550 - 1650 hrs.
• Prof. RK Khandal, President (R&D) and Business Development, India Glycol
Limited
• Mr. Kapil Malhotra, Global Business Unit Head- Fluoropolymers, Gujarat
Fluorochemicals Limited
• Mr. Sanjeev Kalia, Government Relations & Advocacy, BASF
• Mr. Rajeev YSR - Head Investment Promotion, APEDB
Remarks by Shri Arun Baroka, Secretary (Chemicals and Petrochemicals), Ministry
1650 - 1700 hrs.
of Chemicals & Fertilizers, Government of India

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Key discussion points

Session moderated by Mr. Amit Kaushal, Executive Director, PwC
The session started with opening remarks from Shri Susanta Kumar Purohit,
Joint Secretary (Chemicals), Department of Chemicals & Petrochemicals,
Ministry of Chemicals & Fertilizers, Government of India –
• Chemical and Petrochemical sector, very important and touches every
part of our life. India is poised with a very good growth of chemical and
petrochemical sector at present, because of various drivers discussed in
the previous sessions.

• India-EU forum is very important because despite the covid challenges,

the bilateral trade had a very impressive growth of 43.5%. This session
is to see since the growth potential is very high, what’s the scope of our growth of India-EU
bilateral trade and exchange of best practices between two countries and what we can do
further for the trade exchange between the two countries in a better way and how we can help
mid the growth of the sector in domestic as well as global arena.
The moderator of the session, Mr. Amit Kaushal, Executive
Director, PwC, introduced all the panellists in the forum and shared
his thoughts on India-EU trade relations –
• Trade between India and EU is 2000 years old, and it gives
inspiration on how we can build this trade further. Though from a
quantum and value perspective, there is an opportunity to accelerate
even further in terms of India being significant trading partner of EU
• In India, all the sub-sectors are growing, driven by demand in
downstream products. With this perspective, forecasting a higher
level of growth in coming years. India is expected to become 4th largest economy by 2024,
essentially there is an opportunity to participate in the growth story. We can get support on
ESG, design, digitalization, and technology transfer sectors from European countries.
• In terms of Europe, the share of chemical business in global market is going down significantly
from 24.9% in 2010 to 14.4% in 2019 and further going down in years ahead. In the current
scenario, there is an increase in energy cost and coupled with weak demand, it’s leading to
slowdown and shift of production in other countries. There is a significant movement happening
in shifting production to other regions, as it’s not looking viable for European companies to
continue doing business there. This is a huge opportunity for Indian companies to support the
EU market.
• Europe can start developing India as sourcing destination. We have a huge talent pool here,
with access to experience, products etc. There is another opportunity of fast tracking the FTA
with the European union. Another opportunity is to simplify the license approval process in India
as well as Europe to simplify to energize. Another requirement is to ease the mobility of people.
The forum further discussed on top 3 constraints for EU-India trade activities and top 3 key-focus areas
to accelerate the trade

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Prof. RK Khandal, India Glycol Limited –

• India not blessed with petroleum resources, but with talent to create
new molecules, processes, and technologies. We need to focus on
more renewable resources. A new ministry required to focus on
COP26 and COP27 as the world is transitioning from black carbon to
blue carbon and now to green and next will be purple carbon.
• Indian policy makers need to focus more on specialty chemicals. It
shall be defined in the manner that they are derived from renewable
resources. We have chemistry, processes, and technologies, which
nobody in the world has. We should pick up those technologies, which
nobody is doing currently. We should be the leader in niche
technologies.
• Few suggestions for planning – Short term: Government should align to support industry
growth; create center of excellence in multiple regions; create a separate cell in ministry to
target import substitution. Mid Term: Focus more on green hydrogen and CO2 capture
technologies. Long Term: Industry should be self-sustainable

Mr. Mukesh Malhotra, Solvay Specialities India Pvt Ltd. –

• Regulatory framework is the major constraint that hampers today. When you
want to export from India to Europe, we have REACH regulations, but instead of
aligning the standards, Indian government has started enforcing BIS standards.
From the point of manufacturers, it just adds the costs. We could be complying
with REACH standards, but to import from Europe now we need BIS certifications
too. It delays the whole process. There must be some collaborations at regulatory
level, where the countries could come up with some standard regulations which
are accepted at both sides, so that it can ease the compliance cost for the
manufacturing industry.

Mr. Suresh Ramachandran, Country Head & Managing Director Arkema

India

• During COVID, Indian government and Indian embassies partnered

with European companies for zeolite based micro sieves. The way it
was done was a fabulous collaboration and benchmark for everyone.

• About constraints, one of the big challenges is to present India as an

attractive destination compared to countries such as China, Vietnam,
Philippines, Malaysia. It is not China+1, but China+n which is
competing with India, however India will still gain the highest share.
We must raise the Indian position. Many recent initiatives – PLI
scheme in battery space will bring a lot of investments.

• Another region where India and EU can collaborate is sustainability and circular economy. Europe is the
leader with most of the sustainable demands originating from customers in Europe.

• Pace of change from Industry 4.0 to next levels will be very fast and there will be a requirement of skilled
manpower.

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Mr. Sanjeev Kalia, Representative from BASF

• India is the second largest trade partner for Europe. In chemicals, India
exports EU around 19%, but in 2019 there was an edge of Indian exports
to European market. This is a positive note and can be taken forward.
• The barriers are mostly related to regulations. EU has green deal, which
will be implemented soon and REACH. With respect to FTA, it will be done
post agreement with group of 27 countries, which is a long process and still
a challenge and need to see if interests of both the sides are taken care of.
Another constraint is ease of movement of people
• India should explore and invest more in R&D. The conventional routes
are changing, and it gives an opportunity for R&D to invest in and be the
future.
Mr. Kapil Malhotra, Gujarat Fluorochemicals Limited –

• GFL was the largest market supplier of fluoro polymers to Europe last
year. There are some constraints. First is technology transfer. There
is a hesitancy and conservatism from European companies to have
any kind of technology transfer with an Indian partner. We should have
confidence building measures, forums with embassies ambassadors
so that technology transfers can happen to the Indian corporate
companies. Even if Indian companies’ approach, royalties, and
technology transfer rates are too high which will not be viable to put
up a plant. That kind of approach should not be there. We need the
European ministry to investigate this.

• Second is regulatory framework. Through ICHA, the EU came up with a regulatory framework, based on
multiple years of research. But Indian companies must instantly comply to their regulations. European
governments can support companies in developing countries to develop technologies and products to
comply with the standards.
• Another challenge is ease of mobility. Not easy to get a VISA, which again is applicable only for 30 days
or 90 days and that too single entry. This needs to be modified.
Mr. Pramod Bhandari, IG Petrochemicals

• In India, the whole regulatory process is too complex as compared to

countries such as Singapore. There is no sync between environmental regulatory
and industry.

• India is a manufacturing hub but there is no logistic arrangement to

export the chemicals, so that India can be a global hub

• Incentives should be given to the companies, who focus more on R&D

Mr. Sagar Kaushik, UPL

• India can follow EU’s model of how industry, government, and
academia work together to create new technologies.

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 Report

Post the panel discussion, Mr. Rajeev YSR - Head Investment Promotion, APEDB,
Government of Andhra Pradesh put light on how the state government is very much
transparent for industries to flourish. The state has 3 industrial corridors and second
largest port in cargo handling capacity. It contributes to 8% of chemicals and
petrochemicals production value in India and hosts country’s largest PCPIR region.
He also pointed out that the country should focus on developing the skilled
manpower, niche technologies such as green solutions and explore cross-functional
application areas.

Shri Susanta Kumar Purohit, Joint Secretary (Chemicals), Department of Chemicals & Petrochemicals, Ministry
of Chemicals & Fertilizers, Government of India closed the session by thanking all the industry representatives
present in the forum on the behalf of Shri Arun Baroka, Secretary (Chemicals and Petrochemicals), Ministry of
Chemicals & Fertilizers, Government of India, and assured them that the ministry would definitely take up their
respective issues and suggestions forward to encourage fast growth of the industry.

Concluding Points:
Industry must emphasize on following focus areas for Mission 2030 and Vision 2047
• First focus area – Sustainability and safety; under this need to talk about net zero, work and collaborate
on circular economy, green chemistry and work in focused way on hydrogen (generation, storage and
distribution)

• Second focus area – People; India & EU can have seamless mobility of people between the two trading
blocks; another discussion point is developing capability in R&D, manufacturing, digitalization so that we
can make India future ready
• Third focus area – Process; strengthen our supply chain management, provisioning of transportation of
specialized products, streamlining availability of ISO containers and vessels; streamline technology
transfer, Regulatory framework, simplification and standardization

• Fourth focus area – marketing and communication of India as an investment region

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