Maharashtra to host special cluster, R&D centre for plastics industry

Maharashtra State Industries & Mining Minister Mr. Subhash Desai has announced a special cluster, R&D centre & common sharing facility for plastics industry.

Speaking at a function organise by the Plastics Export Promotion Council (PLEXCONCIL) to honour top exporters of plastics with awards for FY16 and FY17, Mr. Desai, stressed that as an industry, plastics are here to stay and has a big role to play in the economy in terms of job and wealth creation. The Maharashtra government, he added, is actively considering a special cluster for plastics industry where common facility centres will be available to all types of plastic manufacturers and exporters. “We can reserve plots for different large, medium and small players in the plastics industry with the help of the Council. We want to create R&D centres for the plastics industry amongst others.”

Mr. Desai appealed to the industry to think of innovative creative ideas to recycle plastics.

 ‘Focus on value addition’

Speaking on the occasion, Mr. Shya-mal Misra, Joint Secretary, Union Ministry of Commerce & Industry, Government of India, urged the industry to formalise an export strategy that will take the industry to the next level. “Plastics exports are less than 3% of India’s overall merchandise exports in FY18, but we need to work to doubling this share. Plastic exports have phenomenal potential and we need to enhance presence in existing (France, Japan, Germany, etc.) and discover new markets such as Latin America, Africa, CIS and Asia.”

He lamented the fact that the proportion of raw materials in Indian exports is still very high and the industry needs to target exports of value-added products, such as engineering plastics, bioplastics and biopolymers.

India’s export of plastics posted a growth of 17.1% at $8.85-bn in FY18, as against $7.56-bn in FY17, registering a faster pace of growth than the overall merchandise export growth from India. According to PLEXCONCIL, plastics formed 2.92% of India’s overall merchandise exports in 2017-18, a tad higher than the 2.74% share held in 2016-17. India’s plastics export during the year were primarily boosted by higher shipment of plastic raw materials and value-added plastic products including woven sacks/FIBC, plastic sheets/films/plates, optical items, laminates, packaging items, and medical disposables to the European Union, North America, Latin America & Caribbean, and North-East Asia. India’s plastic product exports to the US were valued at $1.11-bn during the year. According to Mr. A.K. Basak, Chairman, PLEXCONCIL, India is currently ranked among the top five consumers of polymers in the world and has 30,000 plus plastic processing units employing over four million people across the country.

Award winners

The award winners included Reliance Industries Ltd., Garware Wall Ropes Ltd., Garware Polyester Ltd., Supreme Industries Ltd., Greenlam Industries Ltd., Jain Irrigation Systems Ltd., Merino Industries Ltd., Polyplex Corporation Ltd., Flexituff International Ltd., Vacmet India Ltd., CRI Ltd., Prima Plastics Ltd., Sheela Foam Pvt. Ltd., Condor Footwear (India) Ltd., National Plastic Industries Ltd., Poly Medicure Ltd., IVL Dhunseri Petrochem Industries Pvt. Ltd., Tokyo Plast International Ltd., Prince Corp., Gillette Diversified Operations (P) Ltd., Bhim Polyfab Industries, Flair Writing Industries Ltd. and Linc Pen & Plastics Ltd. amongst others.