``Given the multifarious use it is now being put to, from furniture to agriculture to building construction, to auto sector, packaging and processed foods, the future seems very bright,'' he said.

The industry which has already grown at a faster clip than the manufacturing sector, with various new avenues openning up, the players, Mr Pandia says, will have a lot to look forward to. One, with consolidation in the industry on the cards, there will be enough merger and acquisition opportunties for them.

Two, there is the possibility of strategic marketing alliances for both domestic sales and exports, with multinationals companies and trading companies.

Three, the introduction of new patent regime by 2005 will give the industry a further boost. It is estimated that more than $35 billion worth of products will go off patent by 2010.

Four, there are opportunities with regard to technology transfer to MNCs. Five, the positive changes made by the government in foreign direct investment norms are also likely to help the industry with the MNCs concentrating on the now more profitable niche market.

Lastly, there will be emerging segments of speciality polymers, aroma chemicals, additives for processed food, water treatment chemcials, bulk actives for generics and oil additives for the players to tap.Speciality chemicals industry is an important constituent of the Rs 1,00,000 crore domestic chemical industry, accounting for as much as 44 per cent of it. In the next two years, the industry, worth over $11 billion in 2000-01, is estimated to touch the $12-billion mark. The growth will mostly be driven by the pharma sector which currently accounts for 45 per cent of the total.According to Mr Pandia: "The industry may touch 13-15 per cent growth levels in the next two years. It is a knowledge engineering-oriented industry and not a capital-intensive one. India already has a large pool of industrial laboratories. Exposure to international markets has brought in the culture of quality and competitveness''.

According to observers, the industry is more export-driven than the local market. In the current year, exports have grown 13 per cent, which was around 10 per cent in '97-98. During 1999-2000, speciality chemicals worth around $3 billion were exported as against $2.6 billion in the last fiscal. It is estimated that the growth can be sustained next year too.

The Indian fine and speciality chemical industry has had a bad time of late due to lowering of entry barriers. Barring a few, most segments of the chemcial industry have been facing low turnover, poor growth either due to low demand, surging imports, or poor reaserch and development. And it is feared that if import duties are further slashed, profit margins of domestic companies may get further squeezed.