With a view to cut down imports of chemicals and make India manufacturing hub, Chemicals and petrochemicals secretary P Raghavendra Rao has said the government is planning to boost domestic production of chemicals and petrochemicals. He added that the government wants that factories should come up in a cluster so that it could provide all infrastructure facilities at one place. To ensure quality, he said the ministry plans to make it mandatory some of the BIS standards for those chemicals which are used by masses.
Rao emphasized on the need for utilising the full manufacturing capacity of the industry for production of quality products. There is a need to increase the capacity utilisation in this industry from the current level of 75-80 per cent and cut unnecessary imports. He said that the government's focus is on strengthening the sector which would lead to higher domestic production and reduction in unnecessary imports. The ministry is also working towards attract investments in this sector.
Meanwhile, he expressed concerns over imports of chemicals and petrochemicals in the unknown other categories and said the government is providing specific codes to regulate inward shipments. He pointed out that the country's net imports have risen to Rs 1.21 lakh crore in 2018-19 from mere Rs 1,000 crore in 2004-05 and there is a projection that this figure could touch Rs 3 lakh crore in the next five years.