Union Minister for Chemicals and Fertilizers, M.K. Alagiri, here on Saturday inaugurated the curtain raiser of India Chem 2010, sixth international exhibition cum conference covering the chemical, petrochemical and allied industries to be held in Mumbai in October.
Mr. Alagiri said that pioneers in the field of chemical and petrochemicals from US, Japan, England, France, Denmark, Italy, Spain, Belgium, Korea and South East Asian countries will participate in the expo to be held from October 28 to 30.
The conference will expose to the world the industrial development of India. Besides, it will be a great opportunity for international players to invest in India, he said.
Speaking on the occasion, the Secretary, Chemicals and Petrochemicals, Bijoy Chatterjee, said that the department and Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industries were jointly organising India Chem.
India Chem this year would focus on speciality chemicals. The event would be bigger than ever before in terms of space, exhibitor participation and potential buyer and visitor attendance.
Mr. Chatterjee said that the largest ever road show by India was conducted at San Antonio, Texas, where international chemical industry was present in a significant way. Similarly, a delegation had visited Japan. The delegations would visit Latin American countries and Europe.
He said that Indian chemical industry had an investment of US $ 43 billion. The 40,000 chemical industries, dispersed widely in the country, were the biggest employment generator in a single sector.
FICCI advisor, Rajan Kohli, said that over US $ 500 million of investment had come from two Japanese companies. He expected another US $ 200 million of investment through the 6th edition of India Chem.
Vice-president of Indian Chemical Council, R. Parthasarathy, wanted the Tamil Nadu Government to provide piped gas to promote chemical industries in the State, which had less than five per cent of the country's chemical, petrochemical and plastic production. Besides, he wanted the government to declare that it was actively open to support such industry.
