The Indian government plans to consider establishing a Central Institute of Chemical Engineering and Technology (CICET) to train future industry employees, Ananth Kumar, India’s minister for chemicals and fertilizers, has announced.

“One of the challenges faced by the chemicals and petrochemicals industry is the lack of trained human resources,” said Kumar. He said the training institute would be set up under the Ministry of Chemicals and Petrochemicals along the lines of the country’s Central Institute of Plastics Engineering and Technology (CIPET). A separate division would be created to address the issues faced by the industry.

Kumar said the government also plans to set up chemical hubs at the 22 existing refineries across the country. The private sector would be provided with all the necessary facilities, such as infrastructure, logistics, power and water. The only condition would be that investors would have to meet certain environmental parameters.

“So far we have been a consuming economy. But now we are aiming for a paradigm shift from a consuming economy to a producing economy. We want to become the number one chemical economy in the world,” the minister said.