Owing to its inability to produce finished products, India has emerged as one of the biggest importers of petrochemicals, resulting in sizeable capital outflow, a senior official said on Tuesday.

Addressing a symposium on coal gasification in India' organized by industry chamber FICCI jointly with the department of chemicals and petrochemicals, Chemicals and Petrochemicals Secretary Surjit K.Chaudhary said though India lacks reserves of petroleum and gas, it has rich reserves of coal.

"Still, the country has not been able to provide adequate coal feedstock to its plants," he said.

"Though it is one of the sectors which was delicensed and allowed 100 percent FDI early on, the sector never realized its true potential," he added.

Pointing out that India was importing chemicals and petrochemicals and was selling it to other countries that were then exporting the finished products to India, Chaudhary said this process was damaging India's economy and also destroying local community crafts.