Cement companies face challenges in maintaining product quality when their product needs to be blended with third-party additives to achieve a predictable and consistent result. The calculations required to blend the chemical characteristics and mining parameters necessary to extract material from the mine with keeping the cost of third-party raw materials to a minimum, and at the same time maintaining a consistent, quality product are usually a struggle. Frequently those calculations are completed in a spreadsheet or by guesswork resulting in excess additive cost and an increase in product variability.

The NextGen Chemicals & Petrochemicals Summit organized by Indian Chemical News is evolving as one of the leading knowledge exchange platform for experts and thought leaders to share success stories which will help transform the industry in preparing the future roadmap. The Virtual Summit also offers an ultimate learning experience and provides unrivalled idea exchange opportunities for all global and local participants.

The Indian chemical industry is projected to grow from US $ 178 billion in 2019 to US $ 304 billion by 2025, growing at approx. 9% p.a. during this period. The chemical and petrochemical industry is anticipated to attract new investments in excess of US$ 100 billion. This is all set to transform the Indian chemical industry landscape and make the country self-reliant in this critical area that covers more than 80,000 commercial products.

The global Paints & Coatings market is valued at US $174.3 billion in 2021. The waterborne segment led the market and accounted for more than 39% in 2021. The demand for Paints & Coatings is rising in the automotive industry due to increased overall vehicle demand and replacement of aging vehicles. The increasing spending in the construction sector and consumer preference for eco-friendly products are expected to support the growth of the Paints & Coatings market globally.

By 2050, nearly 80% of India's hydrogen is projected to be green, produced by renewable electricity and electrolysis. Green Hydrogen may become the most competitive route for Hydrogen production by around 2030 and this may be driven by potential cost declines in key production technologies and in clean energy technologies such as solar PV and wind turbines.

The conventional paper-based laboratories are often error-prone, making knowledge transfer even more difficult. However, with the rise of technology and remote work, managing a digital laboratory offers many benefits. The inefficient paper-based processes for recording, managing and executing recipes, processes and methods are being replaced by digital ones. Company data is stored reliably and consistently in a single centralized system, minimizing the risk of human error.

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.