Top Stories ADDING VALUE
NRDC to license TRIFED & IIT-Delhi technology for mahua-based beverage The central government is set to launch a mahua-based alcoholic beverage ‘Mahua Nutribeverage’ in the market for the first time. The beverage has a high nutritional value and relatively low alcohol content (5%). This is the first time that the Ministry of Tribal Affairs is getting into bottling and sale of alcoholic beverages. The technology for the beverage has been developed by the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Delhi in collaboration with the Tribal Cooperative Marketing Development Federation of India (TRIFED). TRIFED has signed a memorandum with the National Research Development Corporation (NRDC) to undertake the assignment of technology transfer to entrepreneurs for production and marketing of the beverage. The marketing is being undertaken under the Van Dhan Vikas Karyakram – the Tribal Affairs Ministry’s value-addition scheme,
which was launched in Chhattisgarh’s Bijapur in 2018. The nationwide programme earmarked Rs. 500-600 crore for training tribal clusters to add value to their produce and sell it in a packaged format, aiming to increase their income manifold. The products marketed under the scheme include only those that need primary-level processing, including handicrafts, textiles, food items, jams and pulps and jewellery. Besides mahua, other tribal staples such as tamarind and amla will be de-seeded and brought to the
market in the form of candies and jams. Mahua is a prominent forest tree in tribal areas of Chhattisgarh and plays an important role in the rural economy. The mahua flowers are a rich source of sugars and are said to contain vitamins, minerals and calcium. The flowers are also fermented and distilled, yielding spirituous liquor also known as ‘country beer’. An estimated 90% of the annual production of mahua flower is used in the process of brewing beverages.
OUTLOOK
India flavours market set to reach $875-mn by 2024 The Indian flavours market stood at $414-mn in 2018 and is projected to grow at a CAGR of over 13% to surpass $875-mn by 2024, on account of increasing youth population, growing urbanisation and hence, rising demand for various packaged food products across the country. Additionally, increasing disposable income of middle-class urban population, innovative marketing and promo126
tional strategies of companies offering a variety of options of flavoured food products coupled with changing taste preferences of consumers is expected to encourage the growth of the Indian flavours market through 2024. On the basis of source, the Indian flavours market has been categorised into nature-identical flavours, artificial flavours and natural flavours. Nature-identical flavours captured half of
the market in 2018 and are expected to maintain their dominance during the forecast period as well owing to strong consumer perception about being safer for health, and availability of numerous options in the category. Some of the leading players in the Indian flavours market are International Flavours and Fragrances India Pvt. Ltd., Givaudan (India) Pvt. Ltd, Symrise Pvt. Ltd., Firmenich Aromatics (India) Pvt. Ltd., and S H Kelkar & Company Ltd. Chemical Weekly March 24, 2020
Top Stories BENGALURU INDIA NANO 2020
Nanotech event showcases innovations from academia & industry Dr. Gautam Kaul from ICARNational Dairy Research Institute, Karnal.
The three-day ‘11th Bengaluru India Nano’ conference and exhibition held recently in Bengaluru showcased several nanotechnologies and products developed by academia and industry. The event was organised by the Department of Science and Technology (DST), Govt. of Karnataka, and Jawaharlal Nehru Centre for Advanced Scientific Research (JNCASR), an autonomous institution of DST.
Minister of Karnataka, along with Prof. C.N.R. Rao.
Research related to novel approaches to tackle infections related to antimicrobial resistance, eco-friendly batteries, and nanotechnology for agriculture were some of the technologies showcased by JNCASR at the exhibition, which was inaugurated by Dr. C.N. Ashwath Narayan, Deputy Chief
The pest management approach to protect crops like coconut, date palm, oil palm, and arecanut was developed by a team of researchers led by Prof. M. Eswarmoorthy from JNCASR, in collaboration with Dr. Kesavan Subaharan, ICAR-National Bureau of Agricultural Insect Resources, Bengaluru and
A set of fabricated zinc-air batteries were also displayed. These have been developed by a team led by Prof. Tapas K. Maji from Chemistry and Physics of Materials Unit, JNCASR. The battery uses Metal-Organic Framework (MOF) derived core-shell nanocomposite as a cathode material, which is tri-functional in nature, which means it is active for oxygen reduction reaction (ORR), oxygen evolution reaction (OER), as well as hydrogen evolution reaction (HER) catalytic reactions. The zinc-air battery is safe, lightweight, and is recharged electrically as well as mechanically.
RENEWABLE ENERGY INDIGENOUS DEVELOPMENT
ARCI’s cost-effective technology can convert solar energy to industrial process heat Scientists from the International Advanced Research Centre for Powder Metallurgy and New Materials (ARCI), Hyderabad, an autonomous institution under the Department of Science and Technology (DST), have developed a cost-effective solar receiver tube technology for industrial process heat applications. The receiver tube technology efficiently absorbs solar radiation and converts it into heat for the targeted applications, especially in industries. It exhibits high corrosion resistance, making it suitable for Indian weather conditions. Industries are one of the biggest consumers of energy. Recently, Indian industries have shown interest in ex128
ploiting renewable energies, especially solar energy, due to their inherent advantages (economic and environmental-friendly aspects). In this regard, Concentrated Solar Thermal (CST) technologies provide a viable solution to meet the demands on industrial process heat (below 250°C) of a majority of industrial processes. The solar receiver tube is one of the key components in the CST technology. Currently, Indian CST plant developers are importing the high-end evacuated CSP receivers for CST applications. This has become a choking point for the commercialization of CST technology. Scientists from ARCI have developed a cost-effective wet chemical process to
prepare absorber coating on stainless steel tubes, suitable for industrial process heat applications. The receiver tube achieved around 93% absorbance (ratio of absorbed to incident radiant power) and around 14% emittance (amount of light emitted by unit area of radiating body), along with good thermal stability and high corrosion resistance. The absorber coating has been successfully validated for heat gain/loss studies in a testing facility established at ARCI. Two patent applications have been filed for the technology, and a MoU has been signed with Greenera Energy India Pvt. Ltd. for technology transfer. Greenera plans to mass-produce the solar receiver tube for wider market absorption. Chemical Weekly March 24, 2020
Top Stories DISMAL NUMBERS
BS IV issues and supply chain disruptions keep auto sales down The Indian automoFeb 2020 Feb 2019 Change Apr-Feb 2020 Apr-Feb 2019 Change tive industry produced a Passenger vehicles 251,516 272,243 -7.61% 2,632,665 3,085,528 -14.68% total 1,646,277 vehicles 58,670 87,436 -32.90% 704,661 898,289 -21.56% including Passenger Vehi- Commercial vehicles Three-wheelers 41,300 59,875 -31.02% 608,959 634,731 -4.06% cles, Commercial Vehicles, Three Wheelers and Two Two-wheelers 1,294,791 1,614,941 -19.82% 16,550,770 19,739,254 -16.15% Wheelers in February 2020, Total 1,646,277 2,034,495 -19.08% 20,497,055 24,357,802 -15.85% as against 2,034,495 in Febslowdown and lower production purchase of BS-IV vehicles. Supply ruary 2019 a decline of 19.08%. of BS IV vehicles. Some upside on chain disruptions from China is also The industry produced a total the registration numbers of VAHAN a concern, which may impact the pro20,497,055 vehicles including Passen- can be attributed to last minute pur- duction plans for companies going ger Vehicles, Commercial Vehicles, chase by customers trying to advance forward.” Three Wheelers and Two Wheelers in April-February 2020, as against PLASTICS WASTE HANDLING 24,357,802 in April-February 2019, a decline of 13.29%. According to Mr. Rajesh Menon, Director General, Society of Indian Automobile Manufacturers (SIAM), “the automobile industry continues to face hardship due to steeper decline in production and wholesale dispatches in all segments in February 2020.” “The decline in wholesale dispatches is primarily due to economic
CSIR-IIP sets up Plastic Bank at Dehradun As part of its efforts to curb single-use plastic and recycle it, another Plastic Bank – the tenth – has been set up in Dehradun. The bank has been established by the Social Development for Community (SDC) Foundation in association with CSIR-Indian Institute of Petroleum (CSIR-IIP).
Foundation’s community outreach associate Rishabh Trivastava appealed to the students of the academy to collect single-use plastic. Through this bank, segregation of plastic waste, collection and recycling of the single-use plastic waste in homes and local communities will be facilitated.
CORPORATE SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY
Grasim Industries’ Staple Fibre Division wins Golden Peacock Award Grasim Industries Ltd. (Staple Fibre Division, Nagda has been named as the winner of the prestigious Golden Peacock Award for Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) in the textile and apparel sector for 2019. The award, instituted by the Institute of Directors (IOD), India in 1991, are now regarded as a benchmark of CSR excellence worldwide. 130
Grasim bagged award for its Integrated Rural Development project, spanning watershed management, animal husbandry, agriculture & horticulture, community health, infrastructure development and addressing social issues. The community engagement program at Nagda spans 55 villages and 25 urban slums, reaching out to over 1 lakh people.
“Our aim is to uplift the level of socio-economic status in Nagda and villages in its vicinity. We are working aggressively for the cause of education, health care, sustainable livelihood, infrastructure development and women empowerment at the community level,” said Mr. Dilip Gaur, Managing Director, Grasim Industries. Chemical Weekly March 24, 2020
Top Stories TRADE TRENDS
Oilmeal exports dip sharply in Feb on better price realisation in domestic markets India’s oilmeal exports have fallen by a massive 74 per cent during February, hitting the lowest level so far in this fiscal, according to data compiled by the Solvent Extractors’ Association of India (SEA). The overall oilmeal exports fell to 76,017 tonnes for February 2020, against 2,94,510 tonnes in the same month last year. Meanwhile, oilmeal exports for the 11 months of the current fiscal stood at 2,200,690 tonnes, 25 per cent down from 2,941,971 tonnes in the same period last year. “This is mainly due to better price realisation for oilmeals in the domestic market compared to export realisation, coupled with increased domestic consumption,” SEA stated.
The Association highlighted a silver lining for India’s oilmeal exports – a sharp increase in the export of castor seed meal, which is used as an organic fertiliser. Castor seed meal exports jumped nearly 41 per cent to 505,194 tonnes (359,351 tonnes). While oilmeal exports to the US and South Korea reported growth, exports to traditional
markets such as Iran, Vietnam and Thailand fell sharply. The international prices of oilmeals have softened on a monthon-month basis, even as they have remained high on a year-on-year basis. Soyabean meal was quoted at $475 per tonne FOB Indian port, down about $10 per tonne from January rates, but $40 higher than last year’s levels.
Major importers of oilmeals Country
Apr 2019-Feb 2020
Apr 2018-Feb 2019
276,655 809,733 218,320 115,063 95,145 165,838
592,697 699,334 298,400 117,174 334,604 96,600
Vietnam South Korea Thailand Taiwan Iran USA
Export of oilmeals – Apr 2019-Feb 2020 Month
Soybean meal
Rapeseed Groundnut meal meal
(Qty in MT) % Change (-) 53.32% (+) 15.78% (-) 26.84% (-) 1.80% (-) 71.56% (+) 71.67% (Qty in MT)
Rice bran extract
Castor seed meal
Total
Last year
Change %
Apr 2019
40,829
120,630
91
26,750
66,285
254,585
224,351
(+) 13%
May 2019
53,272
72,895
–
23,830
51,771
201,768
263,644
(-) 23% (-) 13%
June 2019
62,524
71,064
–
24,423
70,405
228,416
263,163
July 2019
76,558
108,888
199
8,960
38,437
233,042
215,716
(+) 8%
Aug 2019
95,450
86,735
195
9,482
36,622
228,484
359,752
(-) 36%
Sept 2019
35,268
51,132
101
9,797
44,886
141,184
172,423
(-) 8%
Oct 2019
63,800
96,442
–
4,918
73,832
238,992
233,867
(+) 2%
Nov 2019
69,415
73,235
111
12,157
53,483
208,401
353,405
(-) 41%
Dec 2019
72,233
60,178
–
43,891
44,102
220,404
324,927
(-) 32%
41,726 20,309 631,384
97,998 40,585 879,782
– – 697
15,925 3,500 183,633
13,748 11,623 505,194
169,397 76,017 2,200,690
236,213 294,510 2,941,971
(-) 28% (-) 74% (-) 25%
Jan 2020® Feb 2020 (P) Apr 2019-Feb 2020 Apr 2018-Feb 2019
1,143,295
1,000,905
8,693
429,727
359,351
2,941,971
2018-19 (FY)
1,358,083
1,094,015
8,673
487,968
375,954
3,324,693
2017-18 (FY)
1,187,818
663,988
7,931
594,129
572,762
3,026,628
2016-17 (FY)
916,306
214,682
2,918
336,496
410,915
1,885,480
2015-16 (FY)
387,298
331,201
1,102
353,195
456,319
1,529,115
(P) – Provisional ® – Revised 132
Chemical Weekly March 24, 2020
Top Stories SEEKING SUPPORT
Tirupur garment exporters seek financial package to offset impact of Covid-19 break. India exported $1.28-bn worth of cotton yarn last year, which, incidentally, was a steep fall from the previous year’s $2.09-bn – the fall was because of the US-China trade war. As much as 40 per cent of the exports go to China, according to Mr. Hari Thiagarajan, Executive Director, Thiagarajar Mills, Madurai.
Tirupur Exporters’ Association (TEA) has urged Finance Minister Ms. Nirmala Sitharaman to announce financial measures to rejuvenate the economy and business confidence of the exporting units in order to offset the impact of coronavirus. In a letter to the Finance Minister, TEA President Mr. Raja Shanmugham sought proactive steps to advise banks not to categorise the garment production units as NPAs for non-repayment of loan, but provide at least a one-year moratorium which, according to him, would help the units, particularly the MSMEs, to sustain in the business. The stimulus financial package is also required to re-energise the market economy, he said. He noted that European buyers, particularly from Italy and Spain, have already asked TEA members not to export the garments to them and wait for a minimum one or two months till the situation was normal and shops are reopened. The TEA president further said some of the buyers were even cancelling
the orders also and more importantly, the buyers were deferring the payment of the already sent goods. He said the cause of concern is that the production activities have been continuously taking place to fulfil the committed orders and deliver in time and the disruption at this crucial juncture is causing a huge impact on the financial part of the units.
Besides asking for a moratorium on interest payments and protection from being branded NPA by banks, the yarn industry wants the government to extend the scheme that provides ‘rebate of state and central taxes and levies’ (RoSCTL) to yarn. The benefits of RoSCTL are available to exporters of ready-made garments and made-ups.
“In addition to this, the dyes and chemicals prices have gone up by about 30 per cent which will impact cost of production also,” the letter said.
Mr. Thiagarajan, who is also the Chairman of the Tamil Nadu Chapter of the Confederation of Indian Industry, also sought reduction in import duty on key inputs for the textile industry – chemicals, dyes, resins and non-woven fabric. A big source for these items – China – has dried up, hence this plea.
Textile yarn industries badly hit The textile yarn industry is among those badly hit by the coronavirus out-
BOOSTING GROWTH
New textile policy for overall development of the sector in works: Minister Textiles Minister Ms. Smriti Zubin-Irani told Lok Sabha that the government is formulating a New Textile Policy for overall development of the sector including human resource development. “Inputs from all the state governments, individuals through e-portal and different associations are being solicited,” she said. Different stakeholders’ consultation meetings are also underway un134
der broad topics such as cotton, silk, jute, wool, man-made fibre, handloom, handicrafts, power-loom, technical textiles, technology & machinery upgradation, infrastructure (spinning, weaving and processing), and human resource development. In a separate reply, she also said the government has not received demand for a restructuring package for textile and garment units.
Textile share Ms. Irani also informed the Lower House that the share of textiles sector to India’s gross domestic product (GDP) and GDP of manufacturing sector (at basic prices) are 2.2% and 12.22%, respectively during 2017-18 as per the National Accounts Statistics, 2018. “Textile industry is facing some pressures and problems in the past few years like technological obsolescence, high input cost (power & capital), poor credit access, fragmented units, absence of fibre neutrality,” she said. Chemical Weekly March 24, 2020
Top Stories SOCIAL COMMITMENT
DKSH supports underprivileged children in India with teaching tools DKSH India’s Human Resources team organised a day visit to The Society for Door Step Schools (DSS) in Pune, Maharashtra, to help understand the organisation’s signature programme ‘The School on Wheels’. In the programme, the DSS team reaches out with study material and teaching aids to children in locations where there is lack of proper learning environments. DSS helps pre-school children with reading and writing skills, as well as enrolling them into schools. They also provide children with free transportation to their schools, to ensure they attend regularly and do not drop out. According to Mr. Atul Nagarkar, Managing Director, DKSH India, the
goal is to help children achieve their expected learning levels and be ade-
quately prepared with the basic education before they enter primary school.
Call to govt. to use low oil price to spur offtake Diversified Indian conglomerate, Mahindra Group’s Chairman Mr. Anand Mahindra has suggested to the government to ease up on regulations and step up incentives for global investors so that India can take advantage of the opportunities arising out of the ongoing global meltdown due to the
coronavirus outbreak and crashing oil prices. “Step up sanitisation & the Swachh movement which will make India more appealing to tourists looking for alternatives to China. Step up our incentives & ‘step down’ regulations for global
investors who will now look for alternative manufacturing sites to China,” Mr. Mahindra said in a series of tweet. “For India, it’s a crisis we mustn’t waste.... The govt. can use low oil prices both to spur consumption but also retain some of the windfall gains to tackle the deficit,” he added.
ISDC 2020 convention and exhibition rescheduled to September The 6th International Convention and Exhibition on Soaps Detergents and Cosmetics (ISDC 2020), originally scheduled to be held in July in Goa has been postponed to 6-8 September 2020. According to a statement from the organiser, Indian Home & Personal Care Industry Association (IHPCIA), the 136
decision has been taken in “light of recent developments with the COVID-19 virus and the widespread concern for the travel restrictions imposed on specific countries and by companies”. The venue and location for the convention remain unchanged. The event aims at providing a networking platform for
exchange of views on industry perspectives, global dynamics, sustainable supply chain, challenges & opportunities, technology innovation and digital future in emerging markets which offer robust growth and business opportunities for the home & personal care (HPC) industry. Chemical Weekly March 24, 2020
