Thiruvananthapuram, Sep 22 (IANS): Top experts in the Chemical sector feel that India needs to be more self-reliant and cost-effective to bring down its dependence on external sources by strengthening the collaboration between research and development institutions and industry.

They were speaking at the Industry Connect meet on ‘Chemical Synergy: Bridging Industries with Synthetic Expertise', organised by the CSIR-National Institute for Interdisciplinary Science and Technology (CSIR-NIIST), here on Friday.

C. Anandharamakrishnan, Director, CSIR-NIIST, highlighted India’s significant role as an exporter of chemicals, especially specialty chemicals.

ElixGlobal Mentor, Srinivas Lanka, emphasised the need to minimise dependence on external sources like China and called for self-reliance in the chemical sector.

“It is important to develop cost-effective methods for drug intermediates, and identify flow chemistry and enzyme technologies as promising areas for immediate exploration,” said Lanka.

Rajeev R Jha, VP-R&D, Crystal Crop Protection Ltd., said, "To keep costs low while developing agrochemical molecules, a collaborative approach involving both scientists and engineers from the onset to address potential challenges, including environmental considerations, has to be there.

Santosh Nandan, Managing Director, Ambernath Organics Pvt Ltd, explained the importance of data collection of chemical reactions to create a comprehensive database and urged for economic considerations in research, besides stressing on the importance of reproducibility in scientific endeavours.