Chemical industry has urged the Government to set up a Rs 560-crore Chemical Innovation Fund besides forming a chemical sector council for innovation to achieve the full potential of the sector.
Requesting the Government to review the free trade agreement, the CII National Committee on Chemicals said such pacts signed with various countries have not resulted in any advantage to India, while other countries are benefited much more.
Nadir Godrej, Chairman-CII National Committee on Chemicals, and Managing Director, Godrej Industries, said the Government should ensure availability of key feedstock at a competitive price to the speciality chemicals industry.
The Government should expedite swift implementation of GST to lower the transaction costs and avoid cascading of taxes. Involvement of states in policy formulation should be encouraged.
On the issue of skill development, CII said the country would need over 14,000 highly skilled chemical engineers within the next decade to join the speciality chemical industry alone. To meet the growing demand, the Government should set up vocational training institutes and industrial training institutes across the country, it said.