Learn from China on plastic manufacturing: Ahir

AHMEDABAD: When it comes to plastics, India can take a lesson or two from China on how to make the most of the rising demand. This was stated by Union minister of state for chemicals and fertilizers Hansraj Gangaram Ahir at the inauguration of three-day international conference ‘Advancements in Polymeric Materials (APM 2016)’, at the Central Institute of Plastics Engineering Technology (CIPET) in Vatva on Thursday.
Ahir said, “We should learn from China. How they studied the demand in India and manufactured accordingly. They studied about each and every festival and accordingly produced the items required for the same which mainly included plastics.”
The minister further said, “If we want to put brakes on Chinese imports in the country, we will have to work harder on manufacturing in our country. In the future, plastic manufacturing is going to be the biggest industry.”
Ahir also talked about the pollution concerns faced by chemical and plastic manufacturing industries.
Talking about Skill India initiative, Ahir said that there is a huge gap in availability and requirement of skilled workforce in plastic industry. “Currently, around 40,000 students are studying in CIPETs across the country. We aim to enroll 80,000 in next academic year in these institutes.”
Commenting on APM 2016, director general of CIPET S K Nayak said, “Professors, scientists and researchers from 13 countries are participating in the 3-day international conference. More than 300 research papers in various subjects will also be presented.”
In his address, Vijay Shankar Pandey, secretary, chemicals and petrochemicals, Union ministry of chemicals and fertilizers said, “Currently, plastic demand in India is 11 million tonnes which is just 4% of the global demand which stands at 275 million tonnes. We will need 1.2 million skilled manpower in plastic manufacturing till 2024.”
State’s finance and petrochemical minister Saurabh Patel, who was the guest of honour at the event said, “We have given permission to 121 units recently under textile and industrial policy. Of these, many of them are into technical textiles.”