In view of limited gas availability and dependence on imported raw materials for production of fertilisers, Indian industry should explore ways for joint ventures in other countries, which are rich in gas reserves and rock phosphates, said Union minister for chemicals and fertilisers, Sukh Dev Dhindsa, in Hyderabad on Tuesday.
He was addressing a luncheon session at the CII Partnership Summit. The government held this view despite the recent gas discovery by Reliance Industries along the Andhra Pradesh coast, he said.
In this regard, he reminded that one such fertiliser project was coming up in Oman and Spic was setting up a plant in Dubai for $70 million.
Dhindsa said the government was working on proposals for setting up additional ammonia and urea manufacturing capacities.
The gas find by Reliance Industries had raised the gas availability in the country by 60 per cent, and this augured well for industry in general and the fertiliser and the petrochemical industries in particular, Dhindsa said.
He foresaw major industrial estates coming up in various parts of the country, making use of the additional gas resources.
Tracing the growth of the petrochemical industry in the country, the minister said its growth during the last decade was nearly thrice that of the gross domestic product.
Synthetic fibres like polyester, acrylic and nylon played a significant role in supplementing cotton and man-made fibres, he said.
The demand for synthetic fibres, which is around 1.66 million tonnes, will rise to 6.6 million tonnes by 2010-11.
Likewise, the polymer demand, which stood at 3.8 million tonnes in the previous year, will grow to 11 million tonnes in 2010-11.
It is also estimated that India, which ranks 10th in terms of polymer consumption, will garner the third place after the US and China in 2010.
In order to meet the rising demand, there was need for nine ethylene crackers of 700 kilo tonnes per annum each to be set up by 2010, Dhindsa explained.
Referring to the pharmaceutical industry, Dhindsa said drugs worth $80 billion would go off-patent in the next decade.
With necessary legislative and infrastructural changes taking place, India, which has a large number of skilled manpower, will emerge a strong player in the sector.
Its sound footing in information technology would see the bioinformatics sector flourish in the country, he said.
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