One of the fastest growing industries in India, the petrochemical industry provides the foundation for the growth of other manufacturing industries that range from pharmaceuticals to agriculture, packaging to textiles, construction to automotives and so on. Gas Authority of India Ltd. (GAIL) and Reliance Industries Ltd. (RIL) are some of the big names dominating the domestic petrochemical industry. Polymers account for an overwhelming majority of the country’s overall petrochemical production. India has a significant number of naphtha and gas-based cracker complexes, along with a number of aromatic complexes as well. However, the petrochemical industry has made little progress in terms of capacity addition. The country’s ethylene capacity is constrained, which makes it difficult to develop applications going downstream. Other such issues include lack of availability of low-quality feedstock and low level of indigenous technology. Addressing these needs along with more government support should go a long way towards development of the domestic petrochemical industry. Hide this