Govt to facilitate growth of Petrochemical sector in country: Minister

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SME Times News Bureau | 13 Feb, 2015
Union Minister of Chemicals & Fertilizers, Ananth Kumar has said that the Government will act as a facilitator and not as regulator of the Petrochemicals Sector.

Speaking at Petrochemical Conclave at Gurgaon today, he said that the sector needs an investment of over Rs. 60,000 crore in near future and assured that the Government is ready to provide the investment.

Reiterating the Prime Minister's clarion call of Make in India, the Minister said that the Government is ready to address the basic issues concerning the sector of Petrochemicals and downstream industries, like environment, infrastructure and incentives.

He said in the last budget, the Government had taken several steps to correct anomalies and boost the sector, and the process is likely to continue in the forthcoming budget.

Ananth Kumar said that the petrochemical demand is growing. He said that the sector provides value addition to the chain of petroleum products.

The Minister said the Conclave has provided a platform for discussing the issues concerning the sector. He said that the stakeholders should come out with a "Move Forward Paper", culling out issues needing support from the Central and the State Governments. Assuring that the Government would be a stakeholder in the development of the sector, he said that the Ministry of Chemicals & Fertilizers will forward the issue raised in the paper to other authorities.

Kumar stressed on the need of capacity building in the Petrochemical sector. He suggested that there could be another vertical in several institutes for training the personnel in the petrochemicals which will provide formal and structural skill development. He also called upon the refining companies to be anchor units and take part in the development of downstream industries and infrastructure. He said that this would help in better coordination and cooperation and the Government would be more than happy to act as a catalyst.

The Minister also suggested that there should be State level Conclaves of Petrochemical industry where all the stakeholders could participate to thrash out the issues in an amicable manner. The Minister expressed the hope that as India is a niche player in certain hi-tech sectors, it would strive to become so in the Petrochemical sector also. He stressed on the need of setting up more Petrochemical complexes in the country.

Speaking on the occasion, Secretary, Department of Chemicals & Petrochemicals, Surjit Kumar Chaudhary stressed on the need of setting up logistics hubs, supply chain efficiency, import substitution and localization to give boost to the sector. He said that the Government is looking into the issues which are hampering the growth in the sector, and would facilitate its growth.

The Petrochemical Conclave is the fourth in the series of such Conclaves. It is organized by Indian Oil Corporation. A large number of stakeholders and interested companies in the Petrochemical sector from India and abroad have participated in the conclave.