The Union Minister for Chemicals and Fertilizers Ananth Kumar on Thursday offered financial support from the Central kitty through Viability-Gap Funding (VGF) for the success of ambitious project of Petroleum Chemicals and Petrochemicals Investment Region (PCPIR) at Dahej in Gujarat.
Looking at the dismal participation of the processing units at the PCPIR in Dahej, Kumar asked the Gujarat government to submit a proposal for VGF from the Centre. "Dahej PCPIR produces 2 million tonnes of raw material or intermediaries. But only 800,000 tonnes is consumed directly. I assure you, if you ask for VGF, the Centre will consider it favourably," Kumar stated adding that there is a potential to create employment opportunity for 800,000 by 2040 at Dahej PCPIR.
At the fifth edition of IndiaChem Gujarat 2017 at Mahatma Mandir here, Kumar also announced India's first Central Institute of Chemical Engineering & Technology (CICET) to be set up at Dahej in Gujarat on the similar lines of CIPET for plastics sector for skill development in the chemicals sector.
Highlighting the emerging need of talent for chemicals processing in the country, Kumar said, "The Central Government has planned to set up a specialised institute on the lines of Central Institute of Plastics Engineering & Technology (CIPET) for skill development in chemicals sector. This - CICET will be country's first specialised institute on chemicals and it will be set up at Dahej. We will send a formal proposal to the Gujarat government for land requirement of about 10-15 acres and the infrastructure support."
Gujarat chief Minister Vijay Rupani assured support for setting up of CICET. According to Rupani, Gujarat currently has over 16,000 SMEs and more than 500 medium to large units in the chemicals sector producing about 6,500 types of chemicals and petroleum products.
On the future roadmap for the chemicals sector in the country, Tata Strategic Management Group released a report, which highlighted critical issues faced by the industry such as availability of key feedstock, infrastructure status, scale of operations, access to technology, energy security and ease of doing business. Today, at a domestic industry size of $155 billion, India's chemical sector accounts for only 3.4 per cent of the global chemical market, while it has a potential to grow to a size of $ 346 billion by fiscal 2025.