Indian Chemical Industry Information Profile @ a glance

• A large part of the chemicals (30.3%), becomes part of consumer products (e.g. aromatics, preservatives and detergents) or is sold as a consumer product directly (e.g. sodium chloride). Other major destinations are services (16.4%) and agriculture (6.4%).
• The big industrial users of chemicals are the textiles & clothing, the automotive, the paper & printing products, the metal and the mechanical & electrical industries
• The chemicals industry is contributing around 3% of the Indian GDP and 13-14% of the total exports.
• Indian chemical industry is the 12th largest in the world and the 3rd largest in Asia
• The major segments of the Indian chemical industry are Inorganic Chemicals 8%, Organic Chemicals 15%, Pharmaceuticals 15%, Agrochemicals 3%, Petrochemical 22%, Dyes & Paints 5%, Fertilizers 18%, Soaps 11% and others 3% of the total industry.
• The industry is a vital part of the agricultural and industrial development in India and has key linkages with several other downstream industries such as automotive, consumer durable, engineering, food processing etc.
• The industry produces and supplies more than 80000 products
• The textile industry, one of the most significant consumers of specialty chemicals is expected to grow at 20% p.a. over the next five years
• The inorganic chemicals contribute to around eight per cent of the total Indian chemical industry
• The petrochemical industry mainly comprises synthetic fibres, polymers, elastomers, synthetic detergents intermediates and performance plastics. Today petrochemicals products permeates the entire spectrum of items of daily use and cover almost every sphere of life , ranging from clothing, housing construction, furniture, automobiles, toys, household items, agriculture, horticulture, irrigation, packaging to medical appliances
• The petrochemical capacity growth rates which have been 3-4% p.a. over the last 5 years are expected to increase 4 times to 12-15% p.a. over the next 5-7 years. At current prices, the downstream petrochemical industry production is expected to increase from $15-$18 bn currently to $30-35 bn over the next 5-7 years.
• The Indian Pharmaceutical Industry produces bulk drugs belonging to all major therapeutic groups requiring complicated manufacturing process and has also developed excellent GMP compliant facilities for the production of different dosage forms. India is hub of world class manufacturing location with largest number of USFDA approved plants (currently 115) outside the US. While India offers world-class quality pharmaceuticals, the prices are among the lowest in the world – in some cases as low as 1/10th of international prices
• A major soda ash manufacturer in India purchased a United States chemical company for $1.05 billion that included a 75% interest in the company’s Wyoming soda ash operation. The Indian company also had soda ash production facilities in India, Kenya, the Netherlands, and the United Kingdom
• Industry experts said notwithstanding the continuing economic and energy problems, the overall global demand for soda ash is expected to grow slightly over the next several years.
• There are more than 50 different types of scouring and cleaning agents on the market, composed mostly of nonionic surfactants. These scours contain phenol compounds. Federal and state laws limit the amount of phenol compounds that can be dumped into the water