By: ICN Bureau
Last updated : September 09, 2025 5:25 pm
The Summit highlighted the importance of the transformative power of R&D, green chemistry, and the need for deeper industry–academia collaboration to foster the growth
Godrej Industries Group (GIG) - Godrej Industries (Chemicals) and Astec LifeSciences - recently hosted its second National Chemistry Day Summit, uniting industry, academia, and research to discuss innovations transforming chemistry and strategies for the Indian chemical sector. The theme of the Summit was “Driving Innovation and Growth in India’s Chemical Industry”.
Welcoming the gathering, Nadir Godrej, Chairperson, Godrej Industries Group, who in his own trademark poetry style, highlighted the importance of the transformative power of R&D, green chemistry, and the need for deeper industry–academia collaboration to foster the growth to achieve the set target of India’s share of 10-12 per cent in the global chemical market.
Vishal Sharma, Executive Director & CEO, Godrej Industries Limited (Chemicals), underscored chemistry’s pivotal role in industrial and economic growth. “Around the world, nations that have risen to economic power have done so by boldly investing in their chemical sectors, pouring billions into R&D, creating new molecules, and building industries worth trillions. In India, this is where our gap lies. We have not invested enough, and that must change. Equally important is adopting a long-term mindset. We must be willing to play the long game – laying down the infrastructure, taking calculated risks, and accepting short-term costs for long-term gains. If we focus on these two priorities –significantly increasing R&D investment and committing to sustained strategic action – the coming decade and a half can be India’s era of global chemical leadership,” Sharma said while delivering the Keynote address.
Speaking on the occasion, renowned scientist Padma Vibhushan Prof. Man Mohan Sharma said that chemistry doesn't just sustain life; it elevates it. Its applications foster inclusive growth, from providing quick-drying polyester saris for women in India to revolutionizing desalination with hollow-fiber membranes. Chemistry also accelerates medical advances, making life-saving treatments like dialysis more widely accessible. During crises, like the pandemic, chemical innovations demonstrate their critical role in saving lives, from producing disposable syringes to enabling PSA oxygen plants.
“Our industry’s challenge now is to dream bigger, to create, for the first time, a world-leading chemical process born in India, supported by visionary leadership and R&D voices at the board level. Innovation is not an option; it is the key to ensuring our nation moves from participation to leadership in the global chemical economy,” Sharma added.
Echoing his sentiments, Dr. Naushad Forbes, Co-Chairperson, Forbes Marshall said, “If India is to be a developed nation by 2047, we must multiply our ambition for innovation. Our public research in higher education must grow eightfold, and in-house R&D by industry must grow fivefold if we are to match global leaders. Indian industry is profitable but invests far less in innovation than peers in the US, Germany, Japan, or China. And it is this gap that provides us a great opportunity. The true value of research lies not just in breakthrough products, but in the talent, it produces, graduates who will lead and transform industry for decades to come.”
Amit Gandhi, Managing Director & Senior Partner, BCG India, urged the industry to rethink its growth strategy in light of global shifts. “India is building its chemical industry in a very different environment. Globally, upstream capacity is shutting down, while India remains a growth outlier, poised to become the world’s third-largest player by 2030. This is our moment, but we cannot simply replicate what others have done. We must leverage our unique advantages – strong domestic consumption, entrepreneurial agility, and a rising global profile – to chart our own path. That means forging strategic partnerships with global chemical companies, selectively acquiring niche, and innovating business models that play to the strengths of Indian market scenario. If we combine these with targeted R&D and application-specific innovation for the Indian market, we can leapfrog traditional development cycles and position India as a global leader in chemicals over the next decade.”
The summit also featured two panel discussions. The first panel, “Building Competitiveness in India’s Chemical Industry”, was moderated by Vishal Sharma wherein it underscored the importance of accelerating innovation, enhancing value-added manufacturing, and fostering deeper academia-industry collaboration.
S Sunil Kumar, President, Henkel India said, “With over 60% of our sourcing now from local partners, Indian chemical suppliers have shown remarkable progress in innovation, sustainability, and manufacturing capability. The next step is deeper co-innovation with customers, raising ESG performance across Scope 1, 2, and 3, and upgrading infrastructure and safety to world-class levels so that Indian producers can be credible partners in global supply chains.”
Nitin Sharma, CEO & GM, Clariant IGL Specialty Chemicals, said: “Green chemistry represents one of India’s strongest opportunities for global leadership, but it requires scale in R&D investments – at least five times our current levels. Plus, we also need faster regulatory clearances, stronger testing infrastructure, and industry-friendly trade agreements. With the right ecosystem, we could see 10–30% of the industry’s future revenues come from green chemistry.”
Amlan Das, Country Manager & MD, Syensqo India, added: “Global corporations see India as a bright spot in a turbulent world. But seizing the China-plus-one opportunity requires pragmatic policy reforms and infrastructure readiness. India’s ability to be both a hub for exports and a supplier to a growing domestic market depends on removing regulatory bottlenecks, adapting solutions to local needs, and ensuring our value proposition is as competitive as it is innovative.”
Dr. Alok Sharma, Director (R&D), Indian Oil Corporation, stated: “For India to strengthen its global chemical competitiveness, R&D must be purpose-driven, with measurable outcomes and a clear path to commercialisation, rather than being limited to academic publications. Stronger industry–academia collaboration, greater acceptance of homegrown technologies, and investment in international patents will be critical. When R&D leaders have a seat at the decision-making table, they can accelerate the adoption of indigenous innovations across industries.”
The first panel concluded that competitiveness will not come from cost leadership alone, it will come from co-creating solutions with customers, embedding sustainability into every process, leveraging green chemistry as a growth engine, building globally relevant R&D capabilities, and upgrading our manufacturing ecosystems to world-class standards. This is the path to making India a long-term, trusted player in the global chemical value chain.
The second panel discussion, moderated by Burjis Godrej, Executive Director, Godrej Agrovet & Managing Director, Astec LifeSciences, focused on strengthening R&D as a driver of long-term competitiveness in India’s chemical industry, with a particular emphasis on fostering deeper industry–academia collaboration, scaling investments, and creating globally relevant innovations.
Aashish Kasad, Senior Partner, Ernst & Young, said: “For years, R&D in India was largely compliance- or cost-driven, but that mindset is changing. From large conglomerates to mid-sized players, we are now seeing companies invest in backward integration, green chemistry, and innovative products to drive differentiation and valuation. Collaborations with academic institutions are increasing, and sustainability is becoming a critical lever for global competitiveness. The world already recognizes India’s R&D talent—it’s time for Indian companies to fully harness it.”
Vivek Save, Executive Director & Board Member, Deccan Fine Chemicals, noted, “In custom manufacturing, R&D must be closely aligned with business goals. The challenge is finding chemists who understand manufacturing realities and can adapt processes to existing assets while driving throughput and efficiency. Increasingly, projects are coming to us at the lab stage, requiring us to solve complex scale-up challenges. To remain globally competitive, especially against China, Indian companies must invest in long-term technologies, advanced processes, and strategic partnerships.”
Prof. Santosh Gharpure, Dean (Faculty Affairs) & Professor, Department of Chemistry, IIT Bombay, highlighted, “Indian academia has invested heavily in cutting-edge research infrastructure. At IIT Bombay alone, over ₹500–600 crore has been invested during last three years. The opportunity now is for industry to actively engage with these resources through co-development, technology transfer, and startup collaboration. While cultural and trust barriers have historically limited such partnerships, attitudes are shifting. Greater interaction will not only improve patent output but also align research with real-world applications.”
Simon-Thorsten Wiebusch, Chairman, MD & CEO, Bayer CropScience Ltd, observed, “India’s agricultural diversity offers immense R&D potential, but low gross margins often limit investment in truly innovative solutions. There are untapped opportunities in areas such as insecticide research – where other regions have scaled back – and in developing products tailored for high-value crops. To capture this value, companies must resist eroding market prices and instead reinvest in world-class innovation, building for India first and then the world.”
Janak Nabar, CEO, Centre for Technology, Innovation and Economic Research (CTIER), added, “Future-ready R&D teams must be multidisciplinary – combining core chemical expertise with skills in regulation, data science, and customer insights. Indian companies hire strong technical talent but rarely integrate complementary skills that can accelerate innovation and broaden application potential. Targeting big challenges and tapping into cross-sector opportunities will require building diverse, collaborative teams capable of addressing complex problems from multiple angles.”
The panel concluded that India’s path to chemical industry leadership lies in scaling purpose-driven R&D, forging robust academia–industry linkages, investing in talent and infrastructure, and embedding sustainability at the core. By moving from incremental improvements to transformative innovation, Indian companies can evolve from efficient producers into global originators of high-value, sustainable chemical solutions.
Sharing his thoughts on the summit’s impact and the path ahead for the industry, Burjis Godrej, opined, “Innovation in the chemical industry can no longer remain siloed within labs or R&D departments—it must become a mindset that runs across the entire value chain. What emerged clearly in today’s discussions was a shared understanding that we must move beyond incremental gains towards transformative shifts. Strengthening industry-academia linkages, accelerating digital adoption, and building diverse, cross-functional R&D teams are no longer optional—they are vital for sustained global competitiveness. Forums like this are crucial in aligning perspectives, surfacing bold ideas, and reinforcing the urgency for collective action. If India is to lead on the global stage, we must evolve from being efficient executors to becoming originators of sustainable, scalable chemical innovations.”
Dr. Kamlesh Fondekar, Head, R&D, Godrej Agrovet, said during the closing remarks that, “The future of India’s chemical industry lies in its ability to combine scale with sustainability, and tradition with transformation. We must embrace green chemistry as a competitive differentiator, deepen industry-academia partnerships to accelerate innovation, and create regulatory frameworks that reward long-term investments in R&D. India has the talent, market, and raw material base, what we now need is the collective will to evolve from being efficient producers to being global originators of sustainable, high-value chemical solutions. The transition will demand both policy vision and corporate courage, but the rewards will redefine India’s place in the global chemical value chain.”
The Summit also witnessed the launch of the inaugural edition of the CTIER Innovation Report titled “Industry in India: Followers or Leaders?” which provides a data-driven assessment of how leading Indian R&D firms compare to their global counterparts across critical innovation parameters.