New Delhi: Mr DV Sadananda Gowda, Minister for Chemicals & Fertilizers, Govt of India today said that India and the LAC region have cooperated on a lot of global issues on various multilateral and global platforms and there is a need to extend this cooperation at regional and bilateral levels.
Addressing virtual Latin America & Caribbean session on ‘Reimagining Distances’, during FICCI LEADS 2020, Mr Gowda emphasized on the potentials in the Indian pharmaceuticals, fertilizers and petrochemicals sector. He said that India is largest supplier of generic medicines in the world. “India is the only country with largest number of US-FDA compliant Pharma plants (more than 262 including APIs) outside of USA and exports $ 20 billion worth of pharma products to various countries including high standards complying countries like US and Europe. The government has also launched scheme of developing 7 Mega parks, 3 Bulk drugs and 4 Medical devices park across the country,” he added.
New manufacturers will also be eligible for PLI scheme and this is a very good time to invest in India and setup manufacturing base in Indian pharma sector, Mr Gowda noted.
Highlighting the potential of the Indian fertilizers sector, Mr Gowda said that India requires huge quantity of fertilizers in the agriculture sector. Domestic production is not enough to meet the requirements hence we are dependent on imports, he noted. He also said that since LAC region is also a net importer of chemicals and fertilizers, instead of competing in market as buyers, we should be cooperating to make supply chains more efficient so that adequate quantity can be sourced at competitive prices.
Mr Gowda also emphasized on the need for collaboration and development of alternative fertilizers like Nano fertilizers which can reduce our requirement and hence reduce dependence on imports also. “I welcome companies to come forward on this proposal for joint R&D and collaboration for development of alternative fertilizers,” he added.
He further stated that Indian Chemicals and Petrochemicals sector also has huge potential for investment. The market size is around $ 165 billion currently, and is expected to grow up to $300 billion by 2025. To meet the growing demands, India would need 5 crackers by 2025 and additional 14 by 2040 along with cumulative investment of $65 billion, he said.
“To attract foreign participation, the government is revisiting policies for chemical and petrochemical sector. We are working to extend financial incentive based on sales similar to what is being extended in our pharmaceutical sector. We are also tweaking our policies to strengthen our chemical industrial cluster which we call as PCPIRs and plastic parks. Together, these supportive government policies will offer one of the best environments to do business in India as far as chemicals & petrochemical sector is concerned,” Mr Gowda said.
We would welcome any proposal in these sectors and extend all possible handholding in India wherever it will be required, he assured.
Senator Aubyn Hill, Minister for Economic Growth & Job Creation, Government of Jamaica said that India and Jamaica have a strong relationship as India is the oldest and a strong democracy. Jamaica looks at strong legal arrangements with India to shorten the supply chain. He also mentioned that Jamaica is looking for Indian companies to build infrastructure, setting up the national digitization system, food security to shorten the regional supply chains.
Ms Tereza Cristina, Ministry of Agriculture, Livestock & Food Supply of Brazil- said that Brazil and India are already collaborating in innovation through the Brazil-India Agritech program.
Dr Sangita Reddy, President, FICCI said that while there has been an increase in the bilateral trade between India and LAC, there is a massive trade potential to be unlocked. “We will bring these two regions together and it will require an effective institutional framework as well as businesses and people-to-people networks. Latin America is positioned well to leverage on these significant changes underway in India where a reform-oriented Government under the dynamic leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi is charting an ambitious course of growth and development,” she added.
Mr Arvind Varchaswi, Chair FICCI LAC Regional Council and MD, Sri Sri Tattva highlighted the importance of Ayush and alternate medicine in promoting India – LAC Trade and Investments relations.
Mr Angel Ananos, CEO, AJE Group (Big Kola) Peru said that the future of India and Peru is bright and the bilateral relations are getting stronger year on year due to new FDI policies of Government of India.
Mr Daniel Godinho, Director – Corporate Strategy, WEG Industries, Brazil said that knowledge is an important factor to bring India and Brazil closer to each other in terms of trade and investments. India has a favourable business environment and foreign investor friendly policies and future of business in India looks bright.
Mr Ailtom Nascimento Barberino, Executive Vice-President Global Business, Stefanini, Brazil- said that Stefanini’s India office now providing solution to their clients in other countries which is helping us to expand worldwide in providing technological solutions. Also, to shorten the distances first we have to be self-reliant and India is following the vision of the government.
Mr Diego Cordoba Mallarino, President-Partner, Teka Capital Inc, Colombia mentioned that Colombia has the potential to become a base location for Indian Investors to expand business in AMRICAS region as they have port in the pacific and in the Atlantic as well.
Mr Amrut Naik, President & Head- Emerging Market Business, Cadila Healthcare, India emphasized that there is a need for both sides to develop a realistic model based on facts and figures to enhance the trade. India has captured the Latin American pharmaceutical market trend by introducing the high-quality pharmaceutical products with economical prices.
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