The chemical industry comprises the companies that produce industrial chemicals. It is central to modern world economy, converting raw material (oil, natural gas, air, water, metals, and minerals) into more than 70,000 different products.
The chemical industry is a key contributor to the world economy. It is a knowledge-based industry with significant investments in R&D. The industry supplies to virtually all sectors of the economy. In terms of consumption, the chemical industry is its own largest customer and accounts for approximately 33% of the consumption. In most cases, Basic chemicals undergo several processing stages to be converted into downstream chemicals. These in turn are used for industrial applications, agriculture, or directly for consumer markets. Industrial and agriculture uses of chemicals include auxiliary materials such as adhesives, unprocessed plastics, dyes, and fertilizers, while uses within the consumer sector include pharmaceutical, cosmetics, household products, paints, etc. The chemicals industry is diverse and heterogeneous comprising several sectors that are largely unrelated to one another. The key sectors that make up the industry are:
WORLD CHEMICAL INDUSTRY STRUCTURE
CHEMICAL INDUSTRY IN INDIA
The HIGH LIGHTS of the Indian chemical industry are as follows: * The Indian Chemical Industry forms the backbone of the industrial and agriculture development of India and provides building blocks for downstream industries. * Chemical industry is an important constituent of the Indian economy having approx. US $ 28 billion turnover which is approx. 7% of India’s GDP. * In terms of volume, it is 12th largest in the world, and 3rd largest in Asia. * Within India, it constitutes 15% of manufacturing capacity and 20% of the Excise revenue to the Government of India. Chemical industry has weightage of about 13% in the index of industrial production. * The global chemical