Plastic sector has potential to become biggest industry: Ahir

Union minister Hansraj Ahir today said that plastic sector has the potential to become the biggest industry owing to lesser consumption of plastic in country compared to its population.
"Plastic sector has the potential to become the number one industrial sector in the country," said Ahir, the Minister of State, Ministry of Chemicals and Fertilisers.
He inaugurated the conference of "Advancements in Polymeric Materials" organised by Central Institute of Plastics Engineering and Technology (CIPET) here.
"Indian demand of plastic based products is 11 million tonne while the world demand is 275 million tonne. We have just four per cent of world's demand against 18 per cent of world's population," Ahir said.

He also emphasised importance of research, saying it will ensure that the final products will become useful in all sectors including space, besides in daily usage.
"It is due to research that other countries have progressed so much. I won't say that we are (lagging) behind in research, but there is need to improvement," Ahir said.

The minister said the plastic industry has been facing some issues pertaining to environment.
"There is a ban on plastic below 28 microns and (the thickness threshold) is likely to go up. The industry is facing problems regarding environmental issues but those types of products are very less compared to size of the industry," Ahir said.

He said the industry should also take care of environmental concerns as NGOs and environmental groups keep on raising their voice against use of plastics.