India all set to become energy independent by 2047: Finance Minister
Stressing need to focus on green growth and reduction in carbon intensity, Union Minister of Finance and Corporate Affairs Nirmala Sitharaman has said that India is all set to become energy independent by 2047 and achieving net zero by 2070.
Sitharaman further said that the Indian chemical and petrochemicals sector has huge potential and it also impacts other sectors of the economy. The importance of the sector can be gauged from the fact that it deals with more than 80,000 chemicals products which involves sectors like Agriculture, Infrastructure, Textiles, Pharma, Packaging, etc.
Finance Minister noted that the combined exports of major chemicals and petrochemicals in 2022-23 was $9 billion but imports also increased to $13.33 billion. Many of these imports included items which can be produced in India itself and the Government is putting all out efforts in this direction as well.
The minister also brought attention towards the market of Specialty chemicals which is growing exponentially at 12% CAGR. Thus, she said there is need for more robust support for specialized chemicals. The emergence of this market is driven by country’s strong process engineering capabilities, low-cost manufacturing capabilities and abundant manpower.
