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The Indian Chemical Council's Annual Awards for excellence in various facets of chemical industry for the year 2015 were presented to the winners at a Special function organised on 30th September 2016 in Hotel Taj
Palace, Mumbai. The function was largely attended by guests comprising the captains of industry from all parts of the country, academia, research institutions, senior officers from government departments and other distinguished guests.
Professor M.M. Sharma, Former Director, UDCT (now ICT) was the Chief Guest at the function. Mr. Ashwin Dani, Vice Chairman, Asian Paints Limited, was the Guest of Honour at the glittering function.
MR. RAKESH BHARTIA, PRESIDENT-ICC WELCOMING PROFESSOR M. M. SHARMA WITH A BOUQUET OF FLOWERS.
The event commenced with the traditional welcome address by Mr. Rakesh Bhartia, President, ICC.
Mr. Bhartia, the outgoing President of ICC (CEO, India Glycols Ltd.) opined that the country's economic growth curve was at an inflection point with enabling factors like low commodity prices, a government that is extremely focused on development& growth, positive demography, youngworking population and huge consumption. "Everything that could go right is seemingly going right for India today," he declared. However, he said external factors could bring in uncertainties too. "Can we continue to grow at such a fast pace when global growth is not as rapid?" he questioned. He also highlighted the significant percentage of under-nourished or malnourished population in the young working force in the country, which would become a drag on the nation's growth aspirations, rather than strength.
MR. RAVI KAPOOR (RIGHT), VICE PRESIDENT-ICC WELCOMING MR. ASHWIN DANI WITH A FLOWER BOUQUET.
Mr. Ravi Kapoor, Vice President-ICC and Mr. Vijay Sankar, Addl Vice President, ICC introduced the Chief Guest and Guest of Honour to the august audience.
MR. VIJAY SANKAR, ADDL. VICE PRESIDENT-ICC INTRODUCING THE GUESTS
The new President of ICC, Mr. Ravi Kapoor (Managing Director, Heubach Colour Pvt. Ltd.,) also shared Mr. Bhartia's bullishness on growth prospects in India. Comparing India's GDP growth of 7.9% in the last quarter withmuted growth in China and other BRIC countries, he said "it is a big driver and it comes even without any big investments coming in." Mr. Kapoor pointed out that unlike in the past international companies were very keen to invest in India. Quoting a study by McKinsey & Company, he said India has the lowest risk quotient among countries like Russia, Turkey, Mexico and China. "This is very encouraging and I am optimisticthat much more investments will come in," he concluded.
MR. RAKESH BHARTIA DELIVERING THE WELCOME ADDRESS
Mr. Ashwin Dani, Vice Chairman, Asian Paints Limited, who was the Guest of Honour at the function touched upon the evolution of paints industry in India and gave a chronological history of the industry elaborating on the needs of the industry for the years ahead.
MR. ASHWIN DANI ADDRESSING THE AUDIENCE
Professor M.M. Sharma in his address to the august audience touched upon the huge opportunities in import substitution for the domestic chemical industry."It is disheartening to find huge amounts of imports of chemicals that can conveniently be manufactured in India," he said while addressing a huge gathering of industry captains and government officials and other invited guests. The Indian chemical industry should look at manufacturing in the country a range of chemicals that are currently being imported, according to Prof. M.M. Sharma. The prestigious awards recognise excellence in performance in various facets of the chemical industry.
Import substitution: Speaking about opportunities in import substitution, Prof. Sharma gave the examples of polyvinyl chloride (PVC),styrene and acrylic acid."We have chlorine available at literally zero cost, yet we see nearly 1.5 million tonnes of PVC being imported. More than half a million tonnes of styrene and all the acrylic acid that is required in the country is also imported. Shouldn't we apply our minds to avoid these imports? These are profitable to make," he emphasised.
He noted that though there might be some difficulty in getting access to relevant technologies, given the sufficiently large size of the chemical industry in India it should be possible to attract technology suppliers. He added that important chemicals like methacrylic acid, as also its derivative polymethyl methacrylate (PMMA)are produced in negligible amounts in India. "It is in our national interest to see that imports of such products be avoided and we develop a sustained programme to take up its manufacture," he said.
API imports: Prof. Sharmaalso urged the pharmaceuticals industry to address the problem of import dependency on China for its active pharmaceutical ingredients (APIs) requirements."We are large manufacturers of paracetamol, but for its raw material- para-aminophenol -we are dependent on imports. We need to look into imports of several such intermediates that are coming from China as many of these can be made at prices cheaper than what the Chinese are supplying," he stated.
PROFESSOR M. M. SHARMA DELIVERING HIS ADDRESS AS CHIEF GUEST.
Prof. Sharma emphasised the need for buttressing competence in the area of bio-transformations, as many intermediates can be made in a more facile manner through this route, particularly, optically active compounds.
Work on renewables: Speaking about renewable raw materials, he lamented the fact that though India has a huge sugar industry,bagasse is being burnt away and not being utilised adequately. "Earlier, we did not have co-generation in sugar plants. Today, there are a few companies that have been making profit more by selling power than by selling sugar," he remarked, underlining the prevalent practice of routing bagasse primarily for fuel production.
Prof. Sharma also urged the industry to re-look at cellulose-based derivatives such as cellulose acetate, cellulose acetate butyrate, cellulose based films and fibres and stressed the vast amount of cellulosic material available for upgradation.
A PART VIEW OF THE AUDIENCE
Similarly, he lamented the lack of progress in developing lignin-based products. "Over 100 papers have been published on lignin-based products after I talked about this with my colleagues both in research laboratories and academia. It is a pity that we have not made use of this valuable asset," he said.
Full valorisation of naphtha: In the area of petrochemicals, Prof Sharma pointed out that almost 35% of products coming out of naphtha crackers in India are consigned as fuels, including butene-1, butane-2 and isobutylene, and the recovery of valuable feedstocks like C-5s is not being considered. "All refineries have learnt that polypropylene is a good thing. They are not keeping the provision for merchant sale of propylene or ethylene," he said.
Prof. Sharma emphasised the need for building a positive image for the chemical industry. "We need to go to small towns to sing praises of the chemical industry and its produce and how critical they are for quality of life. No industry has made the impact on quality of life as has the chemical industry," he noted.
THE AWARDS AND WINNERS
ACHARYA P. C. RAY AWARD FOR DEVELOPMENT OF INDIGENOUS TECHNOLOGY
Hikal has developed a greener process for the manufacture of Pregabalin, using enzyme technology in two of its stages. The process developed by the Company is more eco-friendly, cost effective and commercially viable process for manufacturing, which is superior to the existing wholly chemical processes.
ICC ADITYA BIRLA AWARD FOR BEST RESPONSIBLE CARE COMMITTED COMPANY
LANXESS conducts several outreach programs for Responsible Care awareness for the stakeholders, including public. Many projects in CSR activities in Education especially girls' education, Environment and life skills are ongoing.
CERTIFICATE OF MERIT FOR CODES UNDER RESPONSIBLE CARE
| Process Safety Code | DEEPAK NITRITE LTD. |
| Employee Health & Safety Code | DEEPAK NITRITE LTD. |
| Emergency Response Code | INDIAN ADDITIVES LTD. |
| Distribution Code | INDIAN ADDITIVES LTD. |
| Product Stewardship Code | HEUBACH COLOUR PVT. LTD. |
ICC AWARD FOR SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY
The CSR Vision of Indo Gulf Fertilisers given by Mrs. Rajashree Birla, Chairperson of Aditya Birla Centre for Community Initiatives and Rural Development is "to actively contribute to the social and economic development of the communities in which we operate. In doing so, build a better, sustainable way of life for the weaker sections of society and raise the country's human development index". The company's activities are focussed around this vision and has done exceedingly well on CSR front.
Transpek Industry Ltd is very actively involved in social activities and joined hands with Government of Gujarat and developed Industrial Training Institute at Padra. The Company also actively involved in Education, Youth Development Program, Health, Swachata, etc.
CERTIFICATE OF MERIT FOR SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY
Dr. K. K. Birla, Founder of the company believes that "Industry must always act in public interest. We in business and industry owe a commitment to the people to protect, preserve and improve the environment in which we operate". The company has been focussing on Education, Health Care, Rural Infrastructure Development, Vocational Training Program, Technical Education and Soil Health Initiative.
ICC AWARD FOR EXCELLENCE IN MANAGEMENT OF HEALTH/SAFETY/ENVIRONMENT
Essar Oil Ltd, Jamnagar, established in the year 1989 is a Responsible Care Committed Company.The Company has taken various innovative strategies towards HSE and has engaged Du Pont for Safety Management Evaluation.
CERTIFICATE OF MERIT FOR EXCELLENCE IN MANAGEMENT OF HEALTH/SAFETY/ENVIRONMENT
Deepak Nitrite Limited,established in the year 1971, is a RC Committed Company and has been permitted to use RC Logo by ICC.
The Company has introduced a number of strategies towards Health/Safety/Environment:
As a result with these initiatives, Accident Severity Rate, Accident Frequency Rate and Total Recordable Injury Rate have been zero for the year 2014 and 2015.
National Peroxide Limited,a Public Limited Company established in the year 1954 is a Responsible Care Committed Company. The Company is focused on 'Safety First' approach. National Peroxide has the most modern and technologically advanced ETP and uses latest technology for tertiary treatment system.
Solvay Specialities India Private Limited,incorporated in 2005, is a RC committed company and has been allowed to use RC Logo by ICC. The company has developed and adopted leading Indicators for better Safety & Health for the Employees that includes:
Activities which are a source of most severe accidents have been identified and elaborate instructions have been issued to comply with Life Saving Rules.
ICC AWARD FOR EFFICIENT WASTE MANAGEMENT
Rashtriya Chemicals & Fertilizers Ltd. (RCF), established in the year 1964, is a RC committed company. RCF has implemented safe innovation methods for use and recycle of waste water in urea plant and recycling of rich effluent in Phosphoric Acid Plant, Ammonium Nitro Phosphate Plant, Suphala Plant.
Heubach Colour Pvt. Ltd., established in the year 1995 is Responsible Care committed company and is permitted to use RC Logo. The company developed a technology and set up a plant which converts waste mother liquor to dried aluminium hydroxide powder for pharmaceutical application. Heubach is the only blue pigment plant which developed a technology to treat the ammonium carbonate solution making 24% ammonia liquor with soda ash as a by-product. Heubach has also implemented various projects for creating "Wealth from Waste".
CERTIFICATE OF MERIT FOR EFFICIENT WASTE MANAGEMENT
LANXESS India Private Limited, established in 2004, has achieved Waste water minimization with recovery and reuse of the waste water leading to zero discharge at Nagda, Madhya Pradesh. Further, the Production set up has been strategically integrated to use by-product of one stream as a raw material for another production stream.
The Dharamsi Morarji Chemical Co. Ltd. (DMCC) was established in the year 1919.The Company introduced Waste Management in:
Thus all these efforts have resulted in - (1) Reduction of Effluent; (2) Reduction of Hazardous solid waste; (3) Conversion of waste residue in value added product, and (4) Improvement in Overall Yields.
ICC AWARD FOR EXCELLENCE IN ENERGY CONSERVATION AND MANAGEMENT
India Glycols Limited, a Responsible Care committed company, has carried out several activities to minimize Energy Consumptions due to which Total Energy Consumption reduced from 1989.0 G Cal in 2013-14 to 1666.5 G Cal in 2015-16 and the Specific Energy Consumption reduced from 4877 Cal/kg in 2013-14 to 4299.4 Cal/kg in 2015-16.
Reliance Industries Ltd (RIL) at Hazira, established in the year 1991, is a Responsible Care Committed Company.The Hazira Plant has a well led Energy Policy. The Company during the year 2015-16, implemented 14 ENCON projects resulting in the savings of 14.3 Gcal/hr. CO2 reduction to the tune of 15400 MT is achieved through implementation of these conservation schemes.The energy consumption level at Reliance Industries Limited is well below the average level of Energy Consumption.
CERTIFICATE OF MERIT FOR EXCELLENCE IN ENERGY CONSERVATION AND MANAGEMENT
Rashtriya Chemicals & Fertilizers Ltd., Thal Unit is the largest producer of Urea. The Company has major energy saving schemes that includes Turbo generator (TG - I & II) turbine washing resulting in Energy saving of 0.02 Gcal / MWh. Ammonia preheated installed in Urea - 11 & 21 resulted in energy saving of 0.016 Gcal/MT of Urea. CO2 Compressor Turbine washing was carried out in Urea 11 & 31 resulted in energy saving of 0.016 Gcal / MT of Urea.
ICC AWARD FOR WATER RESOURCE MANAGEMENT IN CHEMICAL INDUSTRY
Godavari Biorefineries Limited, incorporated in the year 1939 is a Responsible Care Committed Company. The Company has taken many Water Consumption measures such as Reduce, Recycle and Reuse. The Company has invested in various Water Management Technologies to reduce the need for fresh water consumption. As a result, the fresh Water Consumption in Sugar, Cogeneration and Distillery unit has been reduced by 58 per cent.
CERTIFICATE OF MERIT FOR WATER RESOURCE MANAGEMENT IN CHEMICAL INDUSTRY
Jubilant Life Sciences Ltd., established in 1978 has taken several visible initiatives for water resource management such as Sewage treatment plant (STP), Biogas Plant, RO plant, Slop Fired Boiler, CETP, Liquid Incineration System. Due to the above setup, Jubilant has gained benefits like: (a) Treatment of effluent generated in the plants; (b) Zero Liquid discharge; (c) Stream generation from Effluent, and (d) Biogas generation from distillery effluent.
ICC D.M.TRIVEDI LIFETIME ACHIEVEMENT AWARD FOR CONTRIBUTION TO INDIAN CHEMICAL INDUSTRY
For Management of Industry: DR. KAMAL K. SHARMA, Vice Chairman, Lupin Ltd.
For Education & Research: PROF. INDRA KUMARI VARMA, Polymer Scientist, IIT-Delhi
ICC LIFETIME ACHIEVEMENT AWARD
Acceptance Speeches
In his acceptance speech, Mr. Shankar pointed out that the award is coming at a time when the flagship company of the group, Chemplast Sanmar, will be celebrating 50 years next year, which is also his 50th year in the business as he had been associated with the company since the day of inauguration. Speaking about the chemical industry in India, he remarked that given the size of India's population the industry is still small as it only accounts for 3% of the global chemical industry. "Per capita consumption in India is very low for almost all chemicals, compared to the global average,and lower than in neighbouring countries. This is because the Indian chemical industry still faces many challenges of growth - including high energy cost, poor infrastructure, non-availability of feedstocks etc.," he said. In recent times, he added, international competition has emerged as a formidable challenge.
MR. N. SANKAR DELIVERING THE ACCEPTANCE SPEECH
'Protect domestic market' : Mr. Sankar emphasised that even though India is not blessed with natural resources that are critical for the current era, its strength lies in the vast domestic market. "India should actively protect and profit from this resource like other nations do from their natural resources. With our 1.3-bn population, if theper capita consumption of most commodities in India were to catch up with those of our south-east Asian neighbours, we would have Indian demand at almost double-digit figure in the near-to-midterm.This market growth potential is unrivalled anywhere else in the world and therefore we need to benefit from it by protecting it," he added.
Besides Mr. Sankar, Dr. Kamal K Sharma, Vice Chairman, Lupin Ltd. and Professor Indra Kumari Varma, Polymer Scientist, Indian Institute of Technology, Delhi; recipients of the ICC D.M. Trivedi Lifetime Achievement Award for Contribution to Indian Chemical Industry (for Management of Industry and for Education and research, respectively) also addressed the gathering after the awards were presented to them.
All Members of Awards Selection Committee were also facilitated by Professor Sharma and Mr. Ashwin Dani at the function for their challenging task of studying each and every nominations received by ICC for these awards and unanimously selecting the winners.
Mr. Rakesh Bhartia, the outgoing President of ICC handed over the baton to Mr. Ravi Kapoor, incoming President symbolising the transfer of reigns to the newly elected Executive Committee of Indian Chemical Council.
Mr. H. S. Karangle, Director General, ICC proposed a vote of thanks marking culmination of the mega function.
Responsible Care (RC) is a Chemical Industry Initiative, which calls on Companies to demonstrate their commitment to improve all aspects of performance, which relate to protection of health, safety and environment.
