Growing domestic demand, higher realisations and better exports are fueling the growth of the Indian specialty chemicals industry. The robust performance of the sector prompted specialty chemical manufacturers to ramp up their production capacity to meet the demand. Estimates suggest that Indian manufacturers had earmarked a capex of around Rs 6000 crores in fiscal 2021-22. While export growth is expected to accelerate to 17 -18%, domestic demand will surge to around 20% due to strong demand from agrochemicals, FMCG, pharmaceutical, textile and other sectors.

As the country embarks on a massive capacity addition and growth in the chemical sector in the coming years, chemical logistics and supply chain is not only a tremendous opportunity but also one fraught with challenges and concerns.

Considering the ‘planned and announced’ capacity addition of 245 mtpa, China is expected to account for 29% of the global petrochemical capacity additions (and 51% of Asian capacity additions) by 2030, followed by India at over 158 mtpa or about 20% of global capacity addition and almost 33% of Asian capacity, according to the latest available statistics. Around 1,558 planned and announced projects are slated to come online by 2030, primarily in Asia and the Middle East.

The Indian Chemical industry has very high hopes from the upcoming Union Budget 2022-23. Industry expects a slew of concessions from the Budget 2022-23 that is required to ignite the expected growth of the industry. Around Rs. 8 lakh crore investment is expected in the Indian Chemical and Petrochemical industry by 2025.

India's chemical industry is expected to reach US $300 billion by 2025 from the current US $180 billion. This shows that there are immense opportunities for chemical companies but the big question is how to achieve that growth in a sustainable manner.

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 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.

Today’s top chemical companies are responding to the climate crisis and setting goals to be net-zero carbon emission companies by 2050 or sooner. They are also embracing the concept of a circular economy where the products they produce generate less waste and can more easily be recovered and recycled. A key accelerator all companies are embracing as part of their strategy to drive to their net-zero goals and circular economy goals is a digital transformation which involves identifying and implementing methods to bring digital tools and work processes closer together to drive more informed business decisions. Many industry stakeholders see the Process Digital Twin as the most important building block for the digital transformation of the chemical industry.

Globally, the Specialty Chemicals market is projected to grow to US $954 billion globally by 2027 from US $711 billion in 2019, registering a CAGR of 5% from 2020 to 2027, according to Allied Market Research. Presently, Asia Pacific contributed the highest share to the global market, accounting for more than one-third of the total market share in 2019, and will maintain its dominance throughout the forecast period. In addition, the Asia Pacific region is expected to grow at the highest CAGR of 5.9% from 2020 to 2027 due to rapid industrialization in China, India, and Japan; increased demand for pharmaceutical grade specialty chemicals, oil products, electronics, electronic chemicals, and oilfield chemicals amongst others.

NextGen Chemical & Petrochemical Summit 2021

Chemical plants are demanding as they cater to a wide range of organic and inorganic material (liquid or gas) some of which are flammable, toxic, and highly corrosive. Also during chemical processing, liquid such as acids, caustics, and highly viscous organic substances or highly pressurized gas lines place enormous material and mechanical stress upon flow measurement and process analytics solutions in chemical plants.