India's chemicals and petrochemicals sector took centre stage in Mumbai on Thursday, October 22, 2026, as Union Minister of Chemicals and Fertilizers J. P. Nadda inaugurated the 14th Biennial International Exhibition and Conference, IndiaChem2026 — the country's flagship platform for an industry that successive governments have placed at the heart of the Atmanirbhar Bharat manufacturing push.

India's chemicals ambition lands in Mumbai

Addressing the conference, Nadda declared that India's chemicals and petrochemicals sector is 'well-positioned for growth' on the back of 'clear vision, enabling policies and positive industry participation.' The minister underscored that Prime Minister Narendra Modi's government is working 'closely with industry stakeholders through a holistic approach to unlock the sector's immense potential' — signalling that policy support will continue to flow beyond the event itself.

IndiaChem, held every two years, brings together chemical manufacturers, petrochemical companies, global investors and policymakers under one roof. The 14th edition of the conference marks another milestone in a series that has increasingly been used to announce enabling policies and attract foreign and domestic investment into one of India's most import-heavy industrial segments.

Viksit Bharat as the sector's north star

Nadda explicitly linked the sector's growth ambitions to the government's overarching Viksit Bharat vision — the national mission to transform India into a fully developed economy by 2047. 'The vision of Viksit Bharat can be realised only through the collective participation of the Government, industry and 140 crore citizens,' he said, framing the chemicals sector as a core pillar of that larger national project, not a peripheral manufacturing sub-segment.

The framing is deliberate. India's chemicals and petrochemicals industry has long carried a structural vulnerability — high import dependence on key intermediates and raw materials. Platforms like IndiaChem are where that vulnerability is meant to be converted into investment commitments and capacity additions. The Petroleum, Chemicals and Petrochemicals Investment Regions (PCPIR) policy, first notified in 2007, was designed precisely to create integrated investment zones to address this gap. The Make in India initiative, launched in 2014, later identified chemicals and petrochemicals as priority sectors for manufacturing growth and foreign direct investment.

What the industry will be watching next

The real measure of IndiaChem2026 will be the investment announcements and potential new PCPIR notifications that follow the conference. Sectors from agrochemicals to specialty chemicals to polymers are all watching for signals on streamlined approvals, export incentives, and infrastructure support — the levers that can turn a 'well-positioned' sector into a genuinely competitive global force.

With the minister's confidence on record and the Prime Minister's industrial vision as the declared framework, the chemicals industry now waits to see which policy commitments move from the conference stage to the gazette.