Inaugurating the National Summit on Indian Chemical Industry in New Delhi today, the Union Minister of Chemicals and Fertilizers,Ananth Kumar said that the Government will soon come out with a National Chemical Policy to provide enabling environment, infrastructure and duty structure for the Chemical Industry in the country. This will be first such policy in the independent India. The Minister said that the policy will promote research and development in this sector and address the various issues which are hampering the growth of chemical industry in the country.The Minister informed that there is a requirement of over 4 lakh Plastic Engineers in the country while the availability is hardly 45,000 per year. Therefore, the Government is planning to increase the number of Central Institutes of Plastics Engineering and Technology (CIPET) from 23 to about 100 in next couple of years.
The Government has sanctioned 10 CIPETs and these will fill gap of skill India in a large manner. The ASSOCHAM and other Industry organizations should to be a part in skill development of the trainees in such CIPETs and suggested that the ASSOCHAM may sign MoU with the CIPETs at the earliest for skill development in the country.Citing the example of growth in western part of the country especially Gujarat, the Minister said that the growth of the Chemical Industry is paramount to the growth of any region. He said that there are definite indicators, showing that the economy of the country is recovering and it is important that there is a percolation of the economic growth. He emphasized on increased Government industry interaction so that the issues could be discussed and opportunities in the sector are harnessed.