Is Indian chemical industry ready for green march?

The Indian chemical industry, currently valued at $ 108 billion, has been growing at a robust rate. With manufacturing landscape shifting to Asia, India, which currently accounts for only 3% share of the global chemical market, has the potential to emerge as one of the major destinations for chemical companies worldwide. But for this to happen, industry will have to improve efficiency and adhere to global environment & quality norms. 

“Sustainable development is critical to foster the growth of the Indian chemical industry. It forms the central foundation for responsible corporate governance,” said Vipul Shah, Chairman, CEO & President, Dow Chemical International Pvt Ltd. He added, “Being an energy intensive industry, which touches various aspects of human life every day, the Indian chemical industry needs global, uniform standards in environmental administration. For maximum impact,sustainability must be central to the company strategy, engrained in the culture and embedded in the reward structure. The organisation should be cognisant of where the barriers are to delivering on the goals and where the strengths are to build on.

Economic growth has been focal point of the policy makers for overall development of the country. While this is true, there has been an increased need to do it in an environmentally benign way. Balancing ecology with economy is the way forward to ensure sustainable development. Globally, the chemical industry has been one of the early adopters of eco-friendly processing by investing in green technologies.

 

R Mukundan, Managing Director, Tata Chemicals Ltd, said, “From being limited to corporate philanthropy, sustainability now is firmly embedded into all the business areas and is one of the important strategic parameters for any business decision. Given the universe we operate in, it becomes imperative that we incorporate processes that are sustainable.”

 

The Five Year Plan document (2012-2017) for the chemical industry stresses on sustainability – particularly resource and environment sustainability. Water, environmental impact, raw materials, safety over lifecycle and energy use are some of the issues grappling the industry. Indian chemical companies will have to invest in innovative solutions to find appropriate answers to these challenges.

Fuelling demand

As per the National Manufacturing Policy, the government aims to increase the share of manufacturing in GDP to at least 25% by 2025 (from current 16%). To achieve this ambitious objective, the Indian chemical industry will have to play a catalytic role.

Chemicals, the growth enablers

Regulatory developments in the end-user industries are also leading to adoption of green initiatives in the Indian chemical industry. K Jayaraman, Executive Director (Operations Consulting), PwC, India, said, “Today, the customer awareness on health consciousness and eco-friendly products has gone up. Manufacturing companies are looking at specialty chemical additives that help in improving the functionality of the product as well as reduce the environmental load either by achieving the same end product in minimum number of steps or consuming less amount of chemicals than before.”

 

Indian chemical industry has begun the journey on the green path and will have to pursue it with innovative solutions in future as well to emerge winner on the global map. 

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