Plastic manufacturers and processors, represented by more than 10 associations, have demanded the constitution of a regulatory authority to curb ‘consortium, undue profiteering’ in the petrochemicals industry, which has left them on the ‘verge of collapse.’
The industry associations have asked the government to stop imposing anti-dumping duty, mandatory BIS standards, decrease import duty on raw material and ban/restrict export of raw material to enable the industry to survive and remain competitive.
In a letter, Chandrakant Turakhia, president, The All India Plastics Manufacturers Association, has urged the Prime Minister ‘to save the plastics processing industry which is on the verge of collapse due to the dramatic increase in price of raw material by raw material manufacturers in the country.’
“The petrochemical companies are taking advantage of the surge in polymer prices by restricting the supplies to domestic processing units and releasing the material after increasing the prices on regular intervals. Unfortunately, PSUs have also joined hands with private players and not serving in a fair manner. Rationale of price increase by domestic industries are not justified as compared to international prices,” the letter had stated.
“Urgently constitute the Petrochemical Regulatory Authority; ensure that PSUs like IOCL, GAIL, BPCL support the domestic processing units by serving them in a fair manner and fair pricing mechanism,” the letter added.
It also mentions that since the domestic petrochemical producers do not enter into forward contracts like overseas producers, price play and manipulation by domestic companies have become very easy.
The plastics industry in India consists of over 50,000 plastics processing units of which 90% are MSMEs. The sector directly employs more than 50 lakh people and contributes more than ₹3 lakh crore to the country’s GDP.
