Piyush Goyal, Minister of Commerce & Industry, Consumer Affairs, Food & Public Distribution, Textiles, Govt of India emphasised the need for promoting circular economy and sustainability for achieving India's economic growth. "The government and the industry will have to jointly find ways to make India a developed and prosperous nation and, in that circularity, and sustainability will have a critical role to play," he added.
Addressing FICCI's 3rd edition summit on Global Chemicals & Petrochemicals Manufacturing Hubs in India', Goyal said that the chemicals and petrochemicals is a sunshine sector. "If India has to move from $3.5 trillion to $35 trillion economy, the chemical and petrochemicals sector has to grow by leaps and bounds. You (industry) are the foundation block of India's growth story. Without the Chemicals and Petrochemicals industry, there is no $ 35 trillion economy. In this big journey, industry should look for high quality of Indian products, scale, technology, sustainability, innovation and capture international markets," he asserted.
Speaking on the Free Trade Agreements (FTAs), Goyal emphasised that the government adopts a holistic approach and discussion with stakeholders before concluding any FTA. "From government's side, as much as industry promotes R&D, skill development, engaging with international technologies, we will there hand in hand with you to strengthen, promote industry and do FTAs in consultation with you," he added.
"I look at FTAs as ‘Fueling Trade Ambitions' and ‘Fueling Technology Ambitions'," he noted and said that the government is helping by bringing the best of technologies, supporting the industry to produce internationally acceptable products at affordable prices which will further help the industry to expand their business.
Deepak C Mehta, Chairman, FICCI National Chemical Committee and CMD, Deepak Nitrite Ltd said that as we see today in the world, India is the only bright spot in the chemical sector. With a large domestic chemical consumption, the world is looking at India as the second source of supply for the chemicals.
Shailesh K Pathak, Secretary General, FICCI said that the chemical and petrochemicals industry is currently worth $220 billion and expressed hope that the rate of growth of this industry would be higher than India's growth rate.
