• To provide developmental guidance and support in the areas of chemical products and its manufacturing process for rural entrepreneurs and to link frontier areas of science and technology to rural enterprises.
• To make the product / processes of rural enterprises globally competitive through innovative organization of quality testing and quality guidance and to develop in-house testing kits to assist the remotely located rural industries.
• To develop green technology and sustainable processes based on rural / agri-resources and also enable the basic needs like drinking water affordable to rural population, through an enterprise approach.

Functions
i) Development of model enterprises

• Development of cost effective non-chemical preservation and packaging methods.
• Identification, extraction, separation and purification of agrochemicals of potential use.
• Enterprises related to waste recycling through clean technologies (Clean Development Mechanism projects).
• Development of schemes for micro and small enterprise in the chemical area (with focus on industries dependent on rural resources / market)
• Carrying out environmental impact assessment (EIA) related to rural chemical industries.
• Scaling down of processes and plant designs suitable for micro and small enterprises in the rural areas.
  

ii ) Testing Facilities
The Chemical Industries division has a testing laboratory with advanced instruments to help rural products and processes attain global standards.
Major equipments like High Performance Liquid Chromatograph (HPLC), Gas Chromatograph (GC), Atomic Absorption Spectrophotometer (AAS), UV-Visible Spectrophotometer, High Performance Thin Layer Chromatograph (HPTLC), Tintometer, Polarimeter, etc are available in the division.
To provide authentic/credible testing services to our customers in the national and export markets, the Quality Control Laboratories of MGIRI are in the process of accreditation by the National Accreditation Board for Testing & Calibration Laboratories (NABL), New Delhi. It is hoped that by around January 2011, the laboratories will start their testing / accreditation services.

Typical facilities include

• Testing of food related products like food grains, cereal, pulses, spices, oils & fats, organic food, honey, processed food products and water as per AGMARK/PFA/FPO/BIS.
• Testing facility for rural resource based chemical products such as oils, soaps, detergents, shampoo and cosmetics.
• Determination of residual metals (in particular heavy metals) in pesticides, food flavors, essential oils, fats, sugars, vitamins, proteins, food preservatives, drugs, antibiotics, amino acids, organic acids etc.
  

The division also undertakes testing of water and soil from the point of view of toxicity.

iii) Training
The division trains entrepreneurs and trainers in quality management. In select themes entrepreneurially important student projects requiring advanced facilities are also helped.

iv) Consultancy
The division provides consultancy in the areas mentioned earlier with initial focus on

• Development of new products / formulations as per the requirement of the industry
• Quality control guidance & establishment of in-house laboratories for chemical manufacturing industries. Design & development of effluent treatment plant.

v) Policy and Planning
The division also undertakes projects in

• Formulating the quality control strategies for rural industrialization;
• Planning for setting up chemical industries in appropriate rural regions;
• Suggesting government in devising implementation plan for the work;