Indiachem 2006
November 8-10, 2006, Mumbai

Speech of Shri Ram Vilas Paswan, Hon'ble Union Minster For Chemicals & Fertilizers And Steel

• Mr Mauro Agostini, Foreign Trade Under Secretary, Govt of Italy
• Mrs Satwant Reddy,Secretary, Dept. of Chemcials and Petrochemcials, GoI
• Shri H F Khorakiwala, President (Elect), FICCI & Chairman, Wockhardt Ltd.
• Mr. Tokio Niikuni, Managing Executive Officer, COO, Chemical Derivatives Div., Petrochemicals Segment, Mitsubishi Chemical Corporation, Japan.
• Shri D C Mehta, Chairman, National Chemicals Committee, FICCI and MD, Deepak Nitrite Ltd.
• Dr Amit Mitra, Secretary General, FICCI
• Excellencies, Diplomats
• Distinguished Guests, Delegates
• Ladies and Gentlemen

I am happy to inaugurate the 4th India Chem 2006 today. As you all know, India Chem events are organized to show case the strengths of Indian industry and to provide a forum for interaction with the foreign companies. The past events in 2000, 2002 & 2004 have been very successful. I am sure that this event also would contribute to further development of trade between Indian and foreign companies in pharmaceutical, petrochemicals and chemical sectors.

The theme of this conference is "Building capabilities through Innovation and Technology Exchange". It is very relevant today. This Global Conference will project India as an investment destination. It will also provide a base for technology development and transfer. I welcome all the participants to this event.

The Indian economy is maintaining a growth rate of over 8% and we are confident of sustaining it in future also. The chemical sector contributes 3% to the GDP of the country and 14% of total exports. Given its importance in the national economy, the Government is taking various measures for fast growth of this sector.

A Policy for setting up Petroleum, Chemical and Petrochemical Investment Regions or PCPIRs is under active consideration of the Government. These regions spread over a vast area of 250 Sq. Km. will provide the best infrastructure and support facilities for setting up such industries. PCPIRs will mostly come up near the ports.

In order to correct the regional imbalance in industrial development, the Government has sanctioned Assam Gas Cracker Project to be set up in the North East Region. This 5,400 crore rupees project will have the capacity to produce two lakh twenty thousand tones of various polymers.

My Ministry is also actively expanding CIPET to meet the need for technical manpower. The number of CIPET centers is being increased from 12 to 15. The first of these three new centers, was recently opened in Jaipur, Rajasthan. A new Petrochemical Policy is also being finalized. The Policy aims at giving a big boost to the sustainable development of petrochemical Industry. It will also provide a road map for increasing consumption of Plastics while addressing environmental concerns.

The growth of chemical industry can be accelerated. We need to study the reasons and take steps for facilitating the trend.

The Pharmaceutical industry has been growing rapidly. The annual turn over of Indian Pharma Industry is 12 billion dollars. Out of this, exports are 4.5 billion dollars. In the next five years, the annual turnover of Pharma Industry is projected to reach 25 billion dollars. With the amendment of Indian Patents Act in 2005, new opportunities for growth have opened up. New investment in R&D and clinical research etc. will power growth of Indian Pharma Industry in the years to come.

The Government has also drafted a new Pharmaceutical Policy. This policy has proposed various measures for promoting the Pharma industry. Alongwith the growth of the industry, an important concern of the Government is also to make drugs more affordable for the common man. The concern of affordability is not confined to this country alone. Internationally many Governments and other NGOs have been working actively in this direction. This is a complex issue and my Ministry has been trying to balance the interests of the industry and the consumers. I am happy that some manufacturers have voluntarily reduced prices of some drugs and published it for awareness of the common man. Now, it is the responsibility of the Industry to ensure that this reduction in prices has some visible impact on the ground and is not considered a cosmetic attempt to avoid the real issue of reasonable pricing of essential medicines. Various other measures in the public private partnership mode are also being examined by a 14 Member Committee headed by Secretary (Chemicals & Petrochemicals).

How to make essential medicines affordable to the common man ? How to make cancer and HIV drugs more affordable ? These are the challenges before the industry. I am sure that the industry will adopt pricing policies which are aimed at a very large market existing at the bottom of the pyramid. The R&D efforts in new drugs and drug delivery systems need to be directed at those diseases which are common among the third world countries so that cost effective solutions can be found to tackle such diseases. I am sure, the industry is fully conscious of its responsibilities in this regard.

The Government is supporting all efforts to encourage growth of the manufacturing sector. On our part, we are trying to provide necessary support through various fiscal and non-fiscal measures. To increase availability of trained manpower and to expand the R&D facilities, NIPER is being expanded. It is proposed to set up 5 more NIPER like institutions in various parts of the country.

Similarly, efforts are on to revive sick public sector undertakings such as IDPL and BCPL. Our Government has already revived HAL, HOCL and HIL. Other consumer friendly measures adopted with the mutual consultation of the industry are - printing of MRP inclusive of taxes and labeling in English and Hindi.

The Government is also planning to bring in a new Drugs (Prices Regulation and Control) the Drug price Control Order would be issued under this Act and not the Essential Commodities Act. The proposed Act will provide for compounding of offences and better enforcement of pricing policy.

I am confident that the Indian industry will take full advantage of the India Chem event to interact with the global captains of industry present here. I thank Italy for its partnership for this event. I also thank all the participants including the State Governments and industry associations for making this event a success.

With these few words, I have great pleasure in inaugurating this Conference.