At the outset, I am thankful to all the members for electing me unopposed as the President of this Apex Body for the year 2009-10. I am also thankful to my colleagues in the Managing Committee for their wholehearted support and co-operation.
Though the world economic crisis is almost behind us, yet there are many challenges which our Colorants and Intermediates Industry is facing. I am sure the year 2009-10 will end with far more encouraging performance compared to the previous year. Government’s stimulus package has (bringing down Excise to 8.24%) helped to a great extent. We have appealed to the Government not to roll back the Excise rate for Dyes & Intermediates, as it has been our demand for many years due to our end users like textiles opting out of Cenvat chain.
Frequent and steep fluctuations in demand as well as raw material prices have put our Industry into great strain. I request intermediates manufacturers to increase prices whenever and to the extent absolutely necessary in the long term interest of all. We must protect the interest of our customers, be it Colorants manufacturers or users of Colorants, in order to sustain and increase overall demand.
Another area of concern is appreciation of Rupee affecting the exports. A stable currency is of prime necessity for the growth of exports. Government must take adequate steps to neutralize this crippling effect.
Environmental concern (pollution control) is the greatest challenge facing the Industry. Government authorities have imposed a blanket ban on expansion or setting up new Industry in a few Industrial areas such as Ankleshwar, Panoli etc. Industry cannot survive without reasonable growth. Government must adopt a pragmatic approach, fix realistic effluents norms, strengthen enforcement machinery and punish only gross violators instead of imposing a blanket ban. We, in the Industry, also must act more responsibly, as it is our legal as well as moral responsibility to protect the environment so that we leave behind a better world for our own generations to live a better quality life.
In the midst of all these, there was very good news – Kiri Dyes, an Indian company taking over an MNC – world’s largest Dyestuff Company, DyStar. Though it may pose immediate difficulties to some exporters, it will provide an excellent opportunity to increase India’s world market share of Colorants substantially in the near future.
