Kolkata, Dec 9 (PTI) The plastics processing industry on Wednesday alleged that prices of raw materials have increased exponentially in the last three months, disrupting operations of several units.

President of Indian Plastics Federation (IPF) Ramesh Rateria said the prices have increased between 30 per cent and 120 per cent in various grades of polymers, which is having an adverse impact on the processing industry.

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"It is causing problems in running the processing units across the country where nearly 25 lakh people are either directly or indirectly involved in 50,000 units," Rateria said at a virtual press conference.

He said most of them are located in eastern India, which has three petrochemical plants Haldia Petrochemicals, Brahmaputra Crackers and Polymers, and Indian Oil refinery.

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Rateria said IPF has forwarded a written submission to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, highlighting the issue.

IPF also urged the government to form a regulatory body for the petrochemical industry to curb profiteering, stop imposition of non-tariff barriers on polymer imports, and ban on exports of raw materials.

Lalit Agarwal, treasurer of IPF, said most of the processing units are in the MSME sector, which are on the verge of closure due to high raw material prices.

(The above story is verified and authored by Press Trust of India (PTI) staff. PTI, India’s premier news agency, employs more than 400 journalists and 500 stringers to cover almost every district and small town in India.. The views appearing in the above post do not reflect the opinions of LatestLY)