Mumbai

The Centre is planning to set up Reverse Special Economic Zones (SEZ) in various nations starting from Iran in order to meet the increasing demand of speciality chemicals in the country, a senior government official said here today.

The domestic process and chemical industry needs to explore joint ventures and acquire assets in the oil & gas rich regions abroad for securing alternative feedstock and energy sources, the official said.

“In 2013, India was the second largest producer of chemicals in Asia after China. Joint Ventures and alliances abroad for technical and R&D support and global reach can help our industry grow in a big way,” Union Secretary for Chemicals and Fertilisers, Surjit Chaudhary said while inaugurating a four-day chemical fair CHEMTECH World Expo 2015 here.

“The department of chemicals has proposed a reverse SEZ to be set up in Chabhar Port area of Iran for manufacturing of industrial chemicals that are used in abundance by Indian companies. To begin with, one such chemical proposed is methanol or methyl alcohol and the proposal has been sent for inter-ministerial consultations with department of commerce and ministry of external affairs,” Chaudhary said.

“As per the proposal, the Indian companies either in consortium or in joint venture with foreign partners or standalone will set up unit in Iran for manufacturing of methanol. This primary chemical will then be exported back to India where the companies could use it for manufacturing of end use chemicals.

“Thus while the Indian chemical companies could get the supply of the feedstock at a discounted price compared to the imported price, end-use products – speciality chemicals– could be manufactured for use in India and for exports thus making the slogan of ‘Make in India’ worthwhile. The feedstock will be primarily used for value addition in India,” the officer said.

“The demand for speciality and eco-friendly chemical products is on constant increase worldwide and the India chemical and process industry should work towards clean tech, alternative feedstock and energy sources and find ways and means to fight global warming.

“The chemical industry is critical for the economic development of any country, providing products and enabling technical solutions in virtually all sectors of economy.

Indian chemical industry is pegged recently at USD 136 billion which forms less than 5 per cent of the global chemical industry and accounts for approximately 7 per cent if GDP and 12 per cent of Indian exports,” he said.

Chaudhary said that with an aim to achieve sustainable growth in food production and incorporate global best practices in fertiliser usage, the Centre in planning to bring out a new fertiliser policy for the country.

“The Central government is planning to set up six urea fertiliser production units. The government proposes to come out with a new holistic fertiliser policy soon,” he added.

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