FM underlines four challenges for chemical and petrochemicals sector to work on

With global majors like Russia’s Rosneft reported to be looking to set up joint ventures in India, Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Thursday urged domestic chemical and petrochemical firms to address four key challenges such as of sustainability, recycling or circular economy, skilling and technology adoption.

“I am given to believe that global business such as Aramco of Saudi Arabia...Rosneft….have all started coming looking for joint ventures in India. If they are looking for joint ventures, the partners in India should be conscious of the four challenges and unless you are able to bring in that element into what you are becoming a partner with these global big investors, India is not going to benefit from it,” she said while addressing a conference on Global Chemicals and Petrochemicals Manufacturing Hubs in India, organised by FICCI. 

“We cannot have joint ventures with global businesses when our standards in terms of sustainability are not really up to the global mark or commitment which India has given,” she further said, while appealing to the industry body that it should look at sustainability measures and share suggestions based on which decisions can be taken for a rapid shift towards such technology, which would help in building a sustainable industry.

The finance minister also said that the production linked incentives (PLI) scheme for the chemical and petrochemical sector would also be considered. “We are in favour of India becoming a global manufacturing hub,” she said.

However, on issues related to inverted duty structure, she cautioned that inversion on an item, if corrected, can lead to “collateral impact” on some other item. “While inversion of duty is a big concern of the industry and correction is definitely necessary, do look at it in a holistic fashion and I will welcome the suggestions…,”she said.

India has set its sights on becoming energy independent by 2047 and achieving net zero by 2070, the minister said, noting that net zero cannot be achieved unless each industry and sector contributes.