Mumbai, Nov 26 (IANS): The government Wednesday said that the chemical industry is expected to grow at 15 percent per annum over the next few years.

“The chemical industry is expected to grow at a rate of 15 percent per annum over the next few years," said A.J.V Prasad, joint secretary, department of chemicals and petrochemicals, at a industry summit organised here by Confederation of Indian Industry (CII).

"The current government is working on the national chemical policy and will be coming up with the document soon,” he added.

Currently, the chemicals industry accounts for 2.51 percent of overall GDP (gross domestic product) and 15.95 percent of the country's total manufacturing output.

The size of the industry, which also includes fertilizers and petrochemicals, is estimated at $144 billion, which is about four percent of the global market of $3.6 trillion.

Prasad was speaking at CII's conference on "Doing Chemistry with a Purpose: Innovative, green and safe solutions for life".

CII said that the aim of the conference was to deliberate on the campaigns introduced by the Modi government - ‘Make in India’ and ‘Swachh Bharat’ with special focus on chemicals supply chain.

“We would appeal to various industries to reduce imports by encouraging indigenous production, which will help us grow on the back of buoying campaigns like Make in India and Swachh Bharat. Chemistry is the solution to the society,” said Nadir Godrej, chairman, CII national committee on chemicals and managing director of Godrej Industries.