India has potential for fourfold growth in chemicals industry to $1trillion by 2040: MoS Anupriya Patel

Minister of state (MoS) for chemicals and fertilisers, Anupriya Patel today said India has the capability to have $1trillion chemical industry by 2040 and become a factory to the world in the sector.

“If we align the five government initiatives, including the critical mineral mission, rare earth corridor, India Semiconductor Mission along with the National Manufacturing Mission, India will not be just a country which will be able to rise from being a $230 billion chemicals industry to $1 trillion by 2040. We will be world’s battery chemicals, specialty chemicals as well as the semiconductor chemical factories,” Patel said at the launch of India Chem 2026, organised by the ministry.

Patel said the government is already pursuing the department of science and technology to declare chemicals and petrochemicals as a priority sector so that gets covered under the new Research Development Innovation Scheme (RDIS), which has an outlay of about Rs 1 lakh crore.

“We want India to develop a self-reliant economy by 2047, and we have identified manufacturing as a very important element in this journey. We want to advance our manufacturing mission, and the chemicals and petrochemical sector can play an important role in this. The government wants to create an enabling ecosystem and infrastructure is the priority,” she said.

What did MoS Patel say on R&D?

Patel urged the industry to increase spending on R&D along with adopting newer technologies. As per industry data, the global chemicals R&D spending has gone up from $38 billion to $71 billion between 2012 and 2022. India's share, however, is around 3 per cent. “We want to create an environment where investment in R&D is encouraged, and we also have to adopt strategies by which we can both attract and retain talent that can help our industry to compete at the global frontiers,” Patel said.

Speaking at the event, Tejveer Singh, secretary, department of chemicals & petrochemicals said the dedicated chemical parks will soon be operational. “Three dedicated chemical parks will be setup each with a financial contribution of ₹1,000 crore by the government and ₹500 crore by the respective states. These parks will have best in class facilities including plug and play, proper infrastructure and other facilities so that we are able to bring efficiencies in the cost of production,” he added.

Singh said the department is working with DPIIT on import substitution program in which chemical, and petrochemical sector is included. “The chemical sector forms the bedrock of India’s economic growth and development. We need to improve investment in R&D as it is imperative for any sector’s growth,” he said.