The Chemical industry is one of  the oldest industries in India. It not only plays a crucial role in meeting the daily  needs of the common man, but also contributes significantly towards the industrial and economic growth of the nation. The Indian chemical industries comprise small, medium and large-scale uni ts. The chemical industry which includes basic chemicals and their  intermediates,  petrochemicals, fertilisers, paints, pesticides, bulk-drugs and pharmaceuticals is one of  the most diversified industrial sectors covering more than 70,000 commercial products. While some chemical industries are knowledge based and small, others are large, requiring huge capital and interrupted power and other infrastructure for production. The chemical sector accounts for about 17.6% of the manufactur ing sector output, 13 to 14% in total exports  and 8-9% of total imports of the country. It contributes to about 3% of the GDP. During the last five years, exports of chemicals were higher than imports, thereby result ing in positive balance of trade as against the scenario during the nineties. Its contribution to the national revenue is about 18-20% of total collection by ways of various taxes.  How far  India is prepared with respect to chemical regulation in terms of risk  reduction shall be the focal theme of this National Chemical Profile document.

In order to develop  the National Chemical  Profile, the National Chemical Coordination Committee  decided to have three Working Groups to look into Legal, Technical and Infrastructure aspects for carrying out the groundwork with the help of available databases to be collected and collated by the Consultants. The Working Groups, thereafter, discussed and  framed the database as per the guidelines of United Nations Institute for Training and Research (UNITAR).

 It was decided that in first attempt, the sectors  to be covered would be oil refineries, petrochemicals, fertilisers,  pesticides, bulk drugs, dye & dye intermediates, paints,  ink and printing ink, chlor-alkali and soda ash, which are the most organised sectors.

A careful analysis of database on production, import, export and uses, indicates that Indian chemical industries are mostly housed in Gujarat and Maharashtra with some nuclei at Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, Karnataka and West Bengal. Major users are located in Uttar Pradesh, Punjab and Haryana with  respect to consumption of agrochemicals i.e. fertilisers and  pesticides. But  consumption of chemicals as a whole is low in  India in comparison to advanced countries. India’s own market is quite significant and growing rapidly with respect to chemicals, textiles, elastomers, polymers, ink and printing ink and bulk-drugs. However, owing to stagnation in the agriculture sector, there is a declining trend in the growth of agrochemicals. This is one of the reasons that production of agrochemicals is less than installed  capacity. Bulk-drugs, dye and dye intermediates, petrochemicals are growing sectors in terms of export. Inorganic chemicals such as chlor-alkali and soda ash have approached a steady and constant output level.

Since Gujarat and Maharashtra are the major chemical producing States, as expected,  these are also the major hazardous waste generating States, followed by  Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka and Tamilnadu. Initiatives have been taken in these States with respect to hazardous waste management by providing common facilities like secured landfill sites, installation of  state-of-the-art  incinerators and common effluent treatment plants for wastewater treatment, over and above individual facilities provided by large and medium industries.