Indian Chemical News, an online news media covering Chemicals, Petrochemicals, and Energy sector is organizing an E-conference on "Chemical Industry Outlook 2022" on January 21, 2022 from 3:00 PM - 4:30 PM. Please register for the event by clicking on the link.   

The speakers for the e-Conference are: Vikram Shroff, Director, UPL Ltd; B. K. Sethuram, MD-India & GM-CE Next Polymers, Celanese; Suresh Kalra, MD & Head of RBU-Asia, Hubergroup; Maulik Patel, CMD, Meghmani Finechem Limited and Sai Krishna, AVP & Sector Head, ICRA Limited.

The Indian Chemical industry has a huge role to play to make India a US $5 trillion economy by contributing around US $300 billion to the GDP by 2025. The industry is growing with a CAGR of 9.3% and is expected to attract investments of Rs. 8 lakh crore by 2025. As the sector plays a significant role in enabling the growth of the Indian economy, the country needs to build a competitive landscape for the Chemical industry.

Already facing contracting gross margin due to soaring raw material cost and increasing operating costs due to higher freight during the second half of 2021, Indian chemical industry is reorienting its strategy to regain the lost ground. The opportunities are knocking the door as the US is likely to slap investment and export sanctions against more Chinese chemical companies. This will result in a shift for chemical majors to explore reliable alternatives. According to industry experts, this emerging scenario has created grand opportunities for Indian chemical companies that are well positioned to benefit from this shift and garner a major chunk of the pie.

The Indian Chemical industry should also experience increased Capital expenditure as major players have focused on building capacity and expanding their reach into new and emerging markets.

While the growth of the Indian chemical industry is on the right trajectory, these companies will also have to focus on sustainability and decarbonisation. This becomes more necessary as the US and European Union are speeding up sustainability for the chemical industry and Indian chemical companies will have to align themselves with the sustainability goals. Most of these companies have already charted out their plans for increased investment in green, recycling technology, R&D, digitization, etc. to achieve their sustainability goals.

On the policy front, Production Linked Incentives (PLI) is a good measure as it incentivizes the industry to quickly put up investment and start commercializing sales. Chemical industry also needs to be incentivized to push making India a global manufacturing hub.

Key discussion points to be covered during E-conference are: Policy Initiatives to expedite growth of the industry; Strengthening Chemical Infrastructure by developing chemical clusters; Sustainable Chemistry & Circular Economy; Easy availability of raw materials, feedstock and other related component; Tackling logistics and supply chain challenges; Creating R&D Ecosystem; Accelerating business transformation through digital technologies; Adopting global best practices; and Customer-centric innovations.

Here's the registration link to attend the live E-conference.