There is no doubt that specialty chemicals are going to play a big role in terms of how India will move forward because of the potential they offer to ramp up differentiation, effectiveness and efficiencies, besides the way they cater to the end industries, Rupark Sarswat, CEO, India Glycols Limited, said while speaking at the panel discussion on ‘Growth in India's downstream manufacturing sector - Role played by the Specialty Chemicals industry’ on the sidelines of 15th Annual India Chemical Industry Outlook Conference and Exhibition organized by Indian Chemical Council (ICC).

"That is the real value they offer but probably the ecosystem doesn't understand that it hasn't accorded them the importance that they deserve. In terms of India’s challenges, we need more food from less land and, therefore, we need to use our chemicals effectively,” added Sarswat.

“I think specialty chemicals have a big role to play not only in terms of what they can do right now in industries such as pharmaceuticals, agrochemicals, construction, personal care among others but the amount of innovation they can bring in. What we need is the policy oriented approach that has been missing. By and large the Indian success story has been the bottom up story rather than top down story. As an industry we have been mostly operating as individual companies and I strongly feel that we need much more collaboration to build an ecosystem. Traditionally, we have not been the country that has invested in innovation. In the last 30 years, we have mostly imported the technologies or partnered with others. We need to build technologies here. More so because the processes and products that are required shall be completely different from what created the first wave in China, or in the west,” added Sarswat.

“What we lack here in India is the lack of focus on R&D. China grew because they put a lot of effort in this direction. In the US, more than 50% of Indian students in STEM research are Indians. So, it’s not that we don’t have the talent but what is required is the nurturing of such talent. There are many strong areas where we can do well. One of my favorite projects that I dream about is Electric Vehicles (EVs). We need to build confidence in this area, especially Lithium ion batteries. Suddenly there is a shift from the IC engine to the electric engine. It’s going to bring a whole new range of chemicals, polymers which are required. What is being used today for automotive will no longer be needed for tomorrow. Engineering polymers will find different applications. But what we surely need is the other bunch of polymers which will go into the EVs,” said Suresh Ramachandran, Country Head & MD, Arkema India.

Sharing his thoughts on how specialty chemicals could play a key role in the creation of a US $5 trillion economy, Ramachandran said, “I think these stand a good chance going forward for being manufactured in India. When we talk of Atmanirbhar India, this is one set of chemistry which will create strong value addition in India. Today to kickoff will be important but going forward in 5-6 year time, India can become a big hub for manufacturing of chemicals going into lithium ion batteries in EVs. It is an industry which will sustain for the future. I think India is stronger than other countries. They keep talking about sustainable development but in actual terms, India is moving very fast in this. Not only multinationals like us but even Indian companies today are talking more about sustainability. If we have true development in a sustainable way, we are there to stay for a long time.”

As all of us in the specialty chemical industry know that we are surrounded by the opportunities, said U. Shekhar, Chairman, Galaxy Surfactants Limited who feels that there is a huge potential for such products in the hygiene market.

Shekhar said, "As the major ingredient makers for the personal and homecare industry, I can say that the need for sanitation and hygiene is huge and we have a huge ground to cover here in India. Sustainability offers huge opportunities in terms of innovation. Secondly from the consumers’ point of view, the desire is for ultra-safety i.e. the best ingredients and removal of things that don’t add any value. All of these open up huge avenues for innovation. And, therefore for example, we at Galaxy started the journey of our innovation years back with mild surfactants. What was important for us was that not only the product has to be green but also the process too. Our processes were patented and we used our in-products as catalysts. The non-toxic preservatives were used by us in response to the long-term demand of the consumers. The products that you have to use have to have preservatives and it is important that they don’t have any side effects. That was the driver for our innovation. Joint development projects have been great enablers and it helped us to make quality products not only for Indians but customers in Europe."

Sridhar Venkiteswaran, Chief Executive Officer, Avalon Consulting believes that the Indian specialty chemical industry will be driven by the exports and will continue that way for the time being.

Venkiteswaran said, “If you divide this industry between exports and domestic consumption, it is far more export driven. There is a huge potential to produce these chemicals domestically, as a part of our journey to move towards the US $5 trillion economy. It will be a big contribution that India can make to the international markets across various application areas, be it construction, home and personal care market. We are constrained by the fact that we are a lower developing economy and have a certain per capita income besides a large part of demand comes from serving the needs of the masses. The need for specialty chemicals comes in as the product prices start moving up. Many of these end application areas and the domestic markets are constrained by the local issues. Many of our greener products across various applications are in smaller markets in India. But we still produce them competitively. Companies like Galaxy Surfactants are producing for domestic customers but volumes are small. India should continue to be an export driven opportunity and at the same time domestic markets will grow in double digits but it will take time." 

“We spend most of the time on the development part of the R&D and less on the research part. If we have to compare our R&D spend on the percentage of revenue and compare it with western, even China, it is far lower than how the industry works there. On the positive note, the cost of doing R&D is lower in India and so is the cost of talent," concluded Venkiteswaran.