Saturday, June 10 2006 12:39 Hrs (IST) - World Time -

Washington: India yesterday (June 9, 2006) invited mega investment by American companies in its petrochemical sector, which is growing at 9 per cent and has immense potential for high returns.

The Indian Petrochemical market offers immense potential for high returns on investment across a large spectrum of commercial activity, Minister of State for Industry Ashwani Kumar told a gathering of over 50 CEOs of major corporations, including some NRIs in Greenbrier, Virginia.

The sector, with a turnover of nearly US$ 40 billion, was growing at 9 per cent and was poised for an exponential growth,he told the gathering attended among others by senior executives of Dow Chemicals, Dow Corning, Exon Mobil, Total SA, British Petroleum and Akzo.

"India's per capita polymer consumption was only 4 kilograms as against China's 26 kg and the world average of 25 kg per capita and, therefore, the Indian petrochemical market offers huge possibilities," said Kumar, who is leading a high powered delegation.

The CEO conference is a sequel to the initiative Prime Minister Manmohan Singh had taken in September 2004 to attract mega investments in India.

Underlining India's commitment to being an enabler and facilitator in setting up Petroleum Petrochemical Investment Regions (PCPIRs) spread over 100-250 km areas, he said based on preliminary study and evaluation, the states of Karnataka,West Bengal, Orissa, Gujrat and Andhra Pradesh had been identified as possible destinations for setting up PCPIRs.