To boost chemical exports, NITI Aayog proposes incentives and upgrades to port infra, clusters

NITI Aayog, the government's apex public policy think tank, has proposed a series of measures to nearly double India’s $44 billion in annual chemical exports by 2030, noting that limited domestic demand remains a key barrier to faster growth in the sector.

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The measures outlined in a report released on Thursday include developing new and existing production clusters to enable scale, improving port infrastructure for better logistics and storage, and introducing a sales-linked incentive scheme to localise production and boost exports of critical chemicals. In 2023, India ran a trade deficit of $31 billion in chemicals, and accounted for a share of 3.5 per cent in global value chains (GVCs) — against China’s 23 per cent — according to the report. The domestic market was valued at $220 billion in 2023, and the government and industry hope to increase that to $1 trillion by 2040. At the report launch, Nivedita Shukla Verma, Secretary, Department of Chemicals and Petrochemicals, said the industry is resilient and has maintained an annual growth rate of 6 per cent over the last 30 years, with the agrochemicals and dyes sectors performing well in exports.