Indiachem 2006
November 8-10, 2006, Mumbai

Welcome Address By Shri H F Khorakiwala, President (Elect), FICCI

• Shri Ram Vilas Paswan, Hon'ble Union Minster for Chemicals & Fertilizers
• Mr Mauro Agostini, Foreign Trade Under Secretary, Govt of Italy
• Mrs. Satwant Reddy, Secretary, Deptt. Of Chemicals & Petrochemicals, GoI
• Mr. Tokio Niikuni, Managing Executive Officer, COO, Chemical Derivatives Div., Petrochemicals Segment, Mitsubishi Chemical Corporation, Japan.
• Mr D C Mehta, Chairman, National Chemical Committee, FICCI & President, Indian Chemical Council (ICC)
• Mr Satish Wagh, Chairman, CHEMEXCIL
• Dr Amit Mitra, Secretary General, FICCI
• Excellencies, Diplomats
• Distinguished Guests, Delegates
• Ladies and Gentlemen

It is indeed a great privilege for me to be a part of this august gathering. May I extend very warm welcome to all of you, on this occasion of IndiaChem 2006 Exhibition and Conference. We are grateful to the Hon'ble Minister Shri Paswan for gracing the occasion. Sir, your presence and your Inaugural Address would greatly encourage everyone present here today.

I would also like to convey our heartfelt thanks to Mrs Satwant Reddy, Secretary, Dept. of Chemicals and Petrochemcials, GoI. Mrs Reddy along with her colleagues, has been the prime mover behind this event. Mrs Reddy has constantly monitored the progress with my colleagues. With her efforts and encouragement, it has been possible for this event to shape up so well.

A very hearty welcome to all the distinguished speakers and captains of industry, who have spared the time to be with us. I must, at this point, recognize the unstinting support of ICC, CPMA, Chemexcil, IPA, PPMAI and almost 15 other industry associations without whose help we couldn't have put together this grand Exhibition and the impressive Conference programme.

I would also like to welcome the representatives and delegates from large number of companies from India and abroad who are participating in the Exhibition and Conference. This biennial event, jointly organized by Govt. of India and FICCI follows the immense success of the earlier 3 editions in 2000 and 2002 at New Delhi and 2004 at Mumbai.

A special word of welcome for our friends from Italy, which is the partner country this year and from Japan which is the Guest Country and Germany, which is the Focus Country. I am sure this event will contribute towards strengthening Indo-Italian, Indo-Japan and Indo-German economic relations, especially in the Chemical, Petroleum, Plant Machinery and Pharma sectors.

The IndiaChem 2006 Exhibition is the largest in the chemical and pharmaceutical sectors, not only in India but perhaps in whole of Asia. This time we have 260 participating companies including more than 135 from abroad. Leading companies from all over the world particularly from Australia, Canada, China, Israel, Japan, Russia, Spain, USA, Germany, Italy, Brazil and South East Asian Nations are participating both as exhibitors and visitors.

The international conference would have sessions on Chemicals, Petrochemicals, Pharmaceuticals, Management of Hazardous Wastes and Process Plant Machinery, covering wide range of topics pertaining to current issues and opportunities. I am confident IndiaChem 2006 Conference and Exhibition will demonstrate India's capabilities and serve as platform for increasing cooperation between Indian and overseas companies as well as exchange of technologies and exploring the possibilities of merger, joint ventures, setting up of R & D base and strategic alliances.

We are all meeting at a time when the world economy is in the growth mode. Globally the demand for chemicals is above expectations. Most of the plants are experiencing healthy capacity utilization. With more than 70000 products in its kitty, the chemical industry is growing at 2.5 times the global GDP growth rate, the industry is expected to touch $ 2.5 trillion by 2010 from current production of US $ 1.95 trillion. It is now well recognized that this growth would fuelled to great extent by 2 countries- China & India. Asia will see the highest growth with considerable production shifting from high cost countries like Europe and the US to Asia.

Indian economy has been doing very well and is expected to do extremely well in the next 5-10 years, with sustained growth of over 8%. With a size of US$ 40 billion, the Indian Chemical Industry accounts for 14% of the country's total industrial production and 17.6% in the Indian Manufacturing sector. It also accounts for about 13-14% of total exports.

In the next 12 to 18 months, Rs.30,000 to Rs.40,000 crore (US $ 7 billion to 9 billion) worth of projects are expected to take off in the chemical industry. These figures are from an analysis of the investment plans of 300 leading business houses in India.

Today, Indian chemical, petrochemical and pharmaceutical industry and companies like Asian Paints, Reliance, Ranbaxy, DRL and Wockhardt and several others including state companies from Gujarat have completed a full circle starting with import substitution to globalization.

Indian Government is providing industry with friendly policies for encouraging exports and increasing domestic production by setting up SEZs (Special Economic Zones) as well as PCPIRs (Petroleum, Chemicals and Petrochemicals Investment Regions). It is just a matter of decade when India is expected to be placed among the top 3 chemical producing and consuming nations by 2015.

India has also been on a global shopping spree with India's foreign direct investment outflows overtaking inflows. In 2005-06 the outflows from India amounted to US $ 4.5 billion with pharmaceutical industry topping with outflow of US $ 1.58 billion. The country's largest corporate house Tata Group has become the latest to join the ranks of Indian seekers on foreign grounds with the US $ 8 billion acquisition of Europe based Corus, the maker of steel, which is being pegged as the largest ever overseas buyout by private Indian company.

The theme of the conference "Building Capabilities through Innovation and Technology Exchange" could not have been more appropriate, seeing the present scenario, where the very survival of the industry is dependant on innovation.

Thank you.