Saudi Aramco Unit SABIC backs Indias $178bln chemicals market

The chemicals market in India is the sixth-largest in the world and is set to expand further over the next few years with increasing disposable income and changes in consumption patterns boost the use of cars to consumer goods, according to ratings agency ICRA.

This prompted India's largest oil refineries and Sabic’s parent, Saudi Aramco to invest billions of dollars in oil-to-chemicals projects in the country, according to Bloomberg.

Both charging stations and batteries “need sophisticated materials” and “we have the right materials” for both, Janardhanan Ramanujalu, Sabic’s vice president and regional head of South Asia, Australia and New Zealand said.

SABIC supplies fertilizer chemicals such as diammonium phosphate to India and sources a range of chemicals from the country.

The Riyadh-based company also sees the South Asian country as a market for other specialty fertilizer products and is open to joint ventures and partnerships with Indian enterprises.

“It’s a big market opportunity and we will play this comprehensively, which means not just produce in India for India, we will take what is available here,” Ramanujalu said.