Interviews
Paswan vouches for customs duty reduction on naphtha
05 Mar '08
2 min read
There were innumerable complaints from the petrochemical industry about customs duty making business unviable. Mr Ram Vilas Paswan, Minister for chemicals and fertilizers, said on March 4, that he would take up the issue of 5 percent duty on naphtha imposed in the budget with the Finance Minister.
During a conference on petrochemicals organized by the Confederation of Indian Industries (CII), Mr SK Bhowmik, Haldia Petrochemicals' Managing Director, stated, “The Indian petrochemical industry is on the borderline of feasibility, and huge investments are needed to stay globally competitive.”
Rising prices of crude oil have increased the price of naphtha as well and as a consequence the Indian petrochemical industry is troubled by cheaper imports from the Middle East and China.
Further, Peter Jordan of Dewitt & Co, UK, who acted as a keynote speaker emphasized on the better cost competitiveness enjoyed by the new petrochemical plants in the Middle East. This was made possible largely because of abundant availability of natural gas feedstock. However, a number of new projects have missed the targeted time due to rising capital costs of setting up plants.
However, with consumption growth of India intact, the demand for polymers is expected to grow at 9-10 percent per annum taking total consumption to 10 million tons by 2012 from the present 5.5 million tons.
Moreover, Mr Amitava Banerjee, Vice-President (technology), Lurgi India, gave an extended highlight on the new technology concept and the benefits of using coal as petrochemical feedstock.
Mr Banerjee said, “Using coal as a feedstock can be nearly 10 times cheaper compared to naphtha and natural gas. Considering India's huge coal reserves and limited crude oil or natural gas reserves, it is certainly recommended that we adopt new technologies to utilize this resource.”
During a conference on petrochemicals organized by the Confederation of Indian Industries (CII), Mr SK Bhowmik, Haldia Petrochemicals' Managing Director, stated, “The Indian petrochemical industry is on the borderline of feasibility, and huge investments are needed to stay globally competitive.”
Rising prices of crude oil have increased the price of naphtha as well and as a consequence the Indian petrochemical industry is troubled by cheaper imports from the Middle East and China.
Further, Peter Jordan of Dewitt & Co, UK, who acted as a keynote speaker emphasized on the better cost competitiveness enjoyed by the new petrochemical plants in the Middle East. This was made possible largely because of abundant availability of natural gas feedstock. However, a number of new projects have missed the targeted time due to rising capital costs of setting up plants.
However, with consumption growth of India intact, the demand for polymers is expected to grow at 9-10 percent per annum taking total consumption to 10 million tons by 2012 from the present 5.5 million tons.
Moreover, Mr Amitava Banerjee, Vice-President (technology), Lurgi India, gave an extended highlight on the new technology concept and the benefits of using coal as petrochemical feedstock.
Mr Banerjee said, “Using coal as a feedstock can be nearly 10 times cheaper compared to naphtha and natural gas. Considering India's huge coal reserves and limited crude oil or natural gas reserves, it is certainly recommended that we adopt new technologies to utilize this resource.”
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