The Government has proposed to set up a special economic zone for the Indian chemical industry in Myanmar and Iran. In a concept dubbed as reverse SEZ, the Ministry of Chemicals and Fertilisers has mooted the idea of facilitating Indian companies to set up manufacturing facilities where raw material is available in abundance.

Ananth Kumar, Union Minister for Chemicals and Fertilisers, said he would engage with the Finance Minister and External Affairs Minister in mooting the idea of special economic zones in other countries and formalise a concrete plan within a month before reaching out to Myanmar and Iran.

“It makes sense for India to put up industries where feedstock is available rather than importing it into India. The Indian companies’ competitiveness depends on the cost of raw material and their efficiency in convert the same into the final product,” he said while launching India Chem 2014, the eighth Biennial International Exhibition and Conference on the chemical industry.

The Government will also set up four steering committees involving State Governments and different ministries in one month to channel investment into the Petroleum, Chemicals & Petrochemicals Investment Regions at Dahej in Gujarat, Visakhapatnam and Kakinada in Andhra Pradesh, Paradip in Orissa and Cuddalore and Nagapattinam in Tamil Nadu. 

The chemical zones have so far attracted investment of Rs 1.45 lakh crore against the target of Rs 7.70 lakh crore. It has created 2.25 lakh jobs against the target of 34 lakh, said Kumar.

The Indian chemical industry’s contribution to global trade accounts for three per cent, while China tops the table with 29 per cent, followed by the US with 25 per cent. Germany and Japan chip in with 14 per cent and 15 per cent share respectively. 

“Our target is to make India among the top five contributors of chemicals in the world in five years and compete with China neck-and-neck,” said Kumar.

Assuring farmers will not face a shortage or rise in urea (a subsidised fertiliser) prices, Kumar said the Government is monitoring urea prices on a weekly basis. It is priced at Rs 5,307 a tonne currently. The Government would protect the interests of farmers and work out a mechanism to compensate fertiliser companies on rising gas prices, he said.

Expressing concern over the trade imbalance in the chemical industry, Inderjit Pal, Secretary, Department of Chemicals and Petrochemicals, said the industry exported goods worth Rs 1.78 lakh crore last fiscal accounting for 9.6 per cent of total exports, while it imported raw material worth Rs 2.34 lakh crore, totalling 8.64 per cent of total imports.

 

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