By: Rahul Koul
Last updated : September 01, 2025 9:58 am
Leaders across the industry share how AI, IoT, and data platforms are transforming safety checks, contract negotiations, forecasting, and regulatory compliance
In India’s chemical and petrochemical sector, supply chains are being reimagined through the lens of digital transformation. What was once seen as a support function is today emerging as a strategic pillar—driving safety, efficiency, compliance, and growth. Industry leaders agree: digital is no longer about installing an ERP system or collecting data in silos; it is about embedding technology at every stage of decision-making, from factory floors to boardrooms.
Experts from across the industry discussed the challenges and the way forward at the ChemConnect 2025 themed ‘Disruption, Innovation, & Resilence’ organized by the Indian Chemical News on August 21, 2025 in Mumbai.
The second session of the fourth edition of the event titled, ‘Digital Transformation in Chemical Supply Chain: Challenges & Opportunities’ was moderated by Pravin Prashant, Executive Editor, Indian Chemical News.
“Digitalization is at the backbone of everything we do as it is deeply embedded in Reliance’s DNA,” stated Ravikumar Nair, Sr. Vice President - Logistics, Head SCM Operations - Petrochemical Business, Reliance Industries Ltd. who explained how in the chemical supply chain, compliance and safety are of paramount importance.
“These are the issues that keep logistics professionals awake at night. What we are doing is leveraging not just our internal initiatives but also national-level digital policies and platforms. The integration opportunities we see today are real game changers, and we are trying to make the best use of them. To give you a sense of scale, our Jamnagar site alone manages millions of vehicle movements every year. At any given time, we may have 50 to 60 weighbridges operating inside the complex,” mentioned Nair.
“Another area is safety monitoring. We have implemented AI-enabled cameras across sites. But digitalization cannot just be a technology showcase but it must be fully owned by the operations team. If not, it becomes noise instead of delivering meaningful signals. For example, a million alerts from cameras are humanly impossible to monitor. The real challenge is filtering those signals, identifying the right alerts, and enabling real-time corrective action. That is where our current focus lies. I am personally very passionate about safety. With the vast amount of data we are collecting, we are asking ourselves: can these solutions be extended to other chemical companies so they too can benefit from our experience managing such a large and complex environment? The answer is yes. In fact, some of our solutions are already in the public domain. Reliance has built complete digital platforms, such as the integration with NIC’s Vahan database and JioCINeR solutions. We also have Jio Humsafar, a GPS-based vehicle tracking system integrated with cameras. While safety will always remain our first priority, once our solutions mature, we definitely intend to monetize them and offer them to the wider industry. This way, the entire ecosystem benefits from digital innovation,” added Nair.
Sumanto Bhandari, President & Chief Procurement Officer, Finolex Industries emphasizes that while the company has long focused on quality and customer service, its real leap forward lies in embracing digital transformation.
”For pipes, PVC, and fittings, Finolex is the only company of its kind in India and the second largest in Asia. At Finolex, our focus has always been on two things: quality and customer service. However, we also realized that we had been lagging behind in embracing digital transformation. That is why I joined Finolex to help the company take the next leap forward by driving efficiency, profitability, and transformation across multiple business functions and manufacturing sites, not just procurement. Let me touch upon a couple of challenges across industries that we can actually convert into opportunities. The first challenge is data, specifically, how to monetize data and use it for informed decision-making. The second challenge is access to the right information at the right time, which is critical for running businesses efficiently. To give you an example of this complexity: in fittings manufacturing alone, we use more than 2,000 tools across four plants, supported by 240 machines. You can imagine the level of complexity this brings in terms of downtime, efficiency, tool quality, and overall productivity. Managing this effectively is a huge challenge but also a huge opportunity,” said Bhandari.
That’s why we are driving a major project to integrate machines and tools using IoT and RFID-based systems. The idea is to capture accurate, real-time information that can be used for preventive maintenance, predictive maintenance, and better planning. This will allow us to improve resource utilization across the board, be it man, machine, and materials. Technology is already out there; the real question is how we embrace it and use it in the right areas. My advice to industries is: always start with your pain points. It is very difficult and costly to digitize everything across the organization at once. Instead, identify the pain points that are directly impacting profitability and prioritize digital initiatives there. That’s how transformation can be effective and sustainable,” he added.
Susheel Mittal, Chief Supply Chain Officer, Laxmi Organic Industries stresses that the company is undertaking an ambitious digital overhaul of its supply chain by redesigning processes, replacing manual and repetitive work with data-driven systems, and building end-to-end visibility.
"We are on a very ambitious, but also very exciting, journey of digitally transforming our supply chain. Our goal is to increase digitization across more than 80% of our supply chain processes. It’s not just about implementing technology—it’s about fundamentally changing the way we take decisions, by grounding them in accurate, real-time data. We want to empower our leaders and teams with the right information so they can execute better and faster. The chemical industry, as you know, has traditionally been slow in adopting change. On top of that, the global situation, especially disruptions in shipping and logistics—has added more pressure. We are being asked to deliver more: offer differentiated services to customers, cut costs, and still improve service levels. None of this can be achieved without technology and without building a fully digital, integrated supply chain. This realization came from experience. When I started asking questions like: Where are the opportunities? What can we do to improve service?—the answers often took a long time to come, and depending on who I asked, they were sometimes different. This highlighted the gaps: we needed to improve how we collect, analyze, and use data for decision-making,” said Mittal.
I also found that many of our team members were spending most of their time on repetitive tasks—working with multiple Excel sheets, doing manual estimations, and firefighting daily issues. That is not sustainable. If the foundation of our supply chain is based on repetitive manual work, it cannot scale. That is why digitalization is the key. What we are doing now is relooking at all our supply chain processes—redesigning and rewriting them from scratch, and hardwiring them into our systems. We are also revamping our entire planning process, using technology for forecasting and scenario planning. The data collected across all these processes will flow into a central data lake solution, which will provide a single source of truth. On top of this, we are building visibility tools that will allow us to track our supply chain end-to-end. Yes, the timeline is very short, and yes, the scope is ambitious,” added Mittal.
Devarajan Iyengar, Global Procurement Strategy Manager & Head – India Procurement, BASF Chemetall underscores that digital is a foundational enabler at the company, with procurement playing a pivotal role in bridging business needs and technology.
"Today, for any corporate strategy, digital has become a foundational pillar. It cuts across all functions to drive their respective digital agendas. At Chemetall, we operate with a progressive model where we see digital not as a disruptor, but as an enabler for employees. It helps us diversify, transform the way we work, and enhance our capabilities. In this journey, procurement plays a pivotal role because it is at the intersection of technology adoption and business needs. Earlier, when people thought of digital, it was largely about having an ERP system and entering data to run the business. But today, the chemical supply chain presents numerous use cases for digital adoption. Let me share one example. A few years ago, I had to negotiate a multi-million-euro contract renewal with a Chinese supplier for a key raw material. The supplier insisted on price increases, citing raw material cost hikes in China. During the process, we discovered that the original contract actually included a clause obligating the supplier to pass on operational efficiency benefits to us as part of a multi-year learning curve. But during negotiations, this clause was completely overlooked. Why? Because it was buried somewhere on the 46th page of a 140-page document. That experience highlighted the need for digitalized contract management” said Iyengar.
“With digital systems, such clauses could be readily visible and proactively leveraged during negotiations, adding significant value to the business. Another example specific to the chemical industry is around regulatory compliance for key starting materials and active ingredients. We often depend heavily on our suppliers’ manufacturing sites. Any change in those sites can affect regulatory approvals and requires re-registration with authorities. Today, tracking such changes is mostly a manual effort, involving fragmented data across multiple touchpoints. With no end-to-end visibility in our IT landscape, this becomes a huge risk. A digital solution integrating supplier data, compliance requirements, and regulatory updates could transform this into a strategic advantage. So, the big picture is clear: digital is not just about technology adoption, but about building the right mindset to identify complex, high-value use cases. Procurement must challenge technology partners to co-create solutions that unlock value, whether it’s smarter contract management, regulatory compliance, or supply chain visibility. That is how digitalization truly drives strategic impact,” added Iyengar.
The ChemConnect 2025 was supported by Netradyne as the Platinum Partner. The Gold Partner of the event was JM Baxi and the Associate Partner was dDriven.