Indian Chemicals Industry Analysis

India’s chemicals industry is de-licensed, except for few hazardous chemicals. In the Indian chemical industry, alkali chemicals have the largest share with ~69% in the total production; production of polymers accounts for ~59% of the total production of basic key petrochemicals in 2019. The chemical industry is expected to contribute US$ 300 billion to India’s GDP by 2025.

India holds a strong position in exports and imports of chemicals at a global level and ranks 14th in exports and 8th in imports at global level (excluding pharmaceuticals).The chemicals industry in India covers more than 80,000 commercial products with overall market size standing at US$ 178 billion in 2018-19. The industry is expected to grow at 9.3% to reach US$ 304 billion by 2025 on the back of rising demands in the end-user segments for specialty chemicals and petrochemicals. In October 2020, production of key chemicals was 880,569 MT and petrochemicals was 1,808,997 MT.

Insecticides share 53% of the total domestic agrochemicals market, followed by Herbicides. Agrochemicals are the key revenue component of India, which exports 50% of its total production. Petrochemicals consumption stood at 22 million tonnes in 2019-20, out of which 16.5 million tonnes was polymer products.

In December 2020, India witnessed unrealised growth potential in agrochemicals and is focussing on developing new products and judiciously using pesticides

Despite decreasing demand for polymers due to COVID-19 pandemic, India is likely to witness growth to ~32 million tonnes from 2020 to 2030.

India is a global supplier of dye, accounting for ~16% of the global production of dyestuffs and dye intermediaries. India has strong presence in the exports market in the subsegment of dyes, pharmaceuticals and agrochemicals. The country exports dyes to Germany, the UK, the US, Switzerland, Spain, Turkey, Singapore and Japan.

The country ranks 14th in export and 8th in import of chemicals worldwide. In January 2020, exports of organic and inorganic chemicals grew 2.55 % YoY.

Supply disruption in China has caused the global end-user industries to diversify their vendor base mainly towards Indian players. Closure of plants in the EU and China due to increasing environmental concerns have favoured Indian manufacturers to invest further in specialty chemicals.

In the chemical sector, industrial licensing and 100% FDI, under the automatic route, are allowed with exception to few hazardous chemicals. Total FDI inflow in the chemicals (other than fertilisers) sector reached US$ 18.06 billion between April 2000 and September 2020.

Indian companies are witnessing interest from strategic investors led by Japan, Korea and Thailand, as they seek to diversify supply chains from China

This includes large deals in FY 2020—KKR’s $414 million acquisition of JB Chemicals and Pharmaceuticals Ltd. and Carlyle’s $210 million acquisition of SeQuent Scientific Ltd.

The Indian Government supports the Industry through research & development and initiatives such as reducing basic customs duty on several imported products and promoting the ‘Make in India’ campaign.

A 2034 vision for the chemicals and petrochemicals sector has been set up by the government to explore opportunities to improve domestic production, reduce imports and attract investments in the sector. The government plans to implement production-link incentive system with 10-20% output incentives for the agrochemical sector; to create an end-to-end manufacturing ecosystem through the growth of clusters.

Lower per capita consumption and ease of doing business are promoted by the Indian government; this reflects good investment opportunities with huge growth potential.

The government has established four petroleum, chemicals and petrochemical investment regions (PCPIRs) as investment regions for petroleum, chemicals and petrochemicals, along with associated services. Plastics Parks have been set up to facilitate technology development and conducive ecosystem to produce specialised plastic products.

In December 2020, the PCPIR policy is being completely redesigned. Under the new PCPIR Policy 2020-35, a combined investment of Rs. 10 lakh crore (US$ 142 billion) is targeted by 2025, Rs. 15 lakh crore (US$ 213 billion) by 2030 and Rs. 20 lakh crore (US$ 284 billion) by 2035 in all PCPIRs across the country. The four PCPIRs are expected to generate employment for ~33.83 lakh people. ~3.50 lakh persons have been employed in direct and indirect activities related to PCPIRs by the end of 2020.

Under the Union Budget 2021-22, the government allocated Rs. 233.14 crore (US$ 32.2 million) to the Department of Chemicals and Petrochemicals.

The Government of India is considering launching a production linked incentive (PLI) scheme in the chemical sector to boost domestic manufacturing and exports.