The Chemical Industry in India consist of both small and large scale units, and is ranked 12^th in the World in terms of production. The current total turnover of the chemical industry is about USD 30.8 billion, which is 14% of the total manufacturing output of the country. In 2003-04 the export of chemicals and its related products amounted to USD 6.452 billion, which is approximately 15.17% of India's total export. This accounted for a growth of 18.5 per cent over 2002-03. Whereas import of chemical amounts to USD 2.859 billion which accounts to a growth of 28.8 per cent in the year 2003-04 over 2002-03. Major proportion of it goes to the USA, Europe and other developed nations. The chemical industry contributes about 20 per cent to the national revenue by way of custom and excise duty.

India is strong in basic chemicals that go into production of consumer items like paints, dyes, soaps, medicines, toiletries, cosmetics, etc. In terms of consumption, the chemical industry itself is the largest customer for chemicals and accounts for around 33 percent of the consumption. Currently the size of the Indian chemicals industry is estimated to be about $30 billion and according to the department of Chemical estimate, it has a potential of attracting another $8 billion capital investments from both domestic as well as foreign investments over the next five years. The chemical industry accounts for 12.5 per cent of India's industrial production, 15 per cent of total manufacturing capacity and contributes around 6.7 per cent to the country's GDP.

The state of Tamilnadu traditionally has a strong base in the chemical industry. Manali, in the outskirts of Chennai (Madras) has emerged as a major petrochemical complex. The mother refinery in the complex, Chennai (Madras) Refinery Ltd., has given rise to several petro-based units using a refinery feed-stock for the manufacture of a large number of petro-chemical ranging from fertilizer to polyols, nylon chips and polybutanes. Major chemicals and fertilizer plants have also been established at Cuddalore and Tuticorin. Dupont, USA has recently commissioned a large plant for manufacture of nylon 6.6 at Gummidipoondi near Chennai. Other major projects in pipeline are: Norsk Hydro (PVC), SPIC (PTA/PFY), etc. TIDCO is currently in the process of setting up a major petrochem park is an area of about 7,000 acres at Ennore, north of Chennai. TIDCO has also proposed to promote a Naphtha Cracker in this park; besides, TIDCO is currently implementing a LNG handling terminal at upcoming Ennore Satellite Port. Based on LNG terminal, a number of down-stream petro-chemical projects have been planned. Also, 3 new refineries are proposed to be set up at Cuddalore, Tuticorin and Ennore. Petrochemical industry in Tamilnadu is in the threshold of rapid expansion.