The Department of Chemicals and Petrochemicals (DCPC), under the Ministry of Chemicals and Fertilizers, was originally part of the Ministry of Industry until 1989 when it was transferred to the Ministry of Petroleum and Chemicals. On June 5, 1991, it became part of the Ministry of Chemicals and Fertilizers.

DCPC has eight divisions: Finance, Chemicals, Petrochemicals, Administration, Coordination, Economic, Statistics & Monitoring (S&M), and Official Language Division. The department oversees three Central Public Sector Undertakings (CPSUs) in the chemical sector: Hindustan Organic Chemicals Ltd. (HOCL) (https://www.hoclindia.com/), HIL (India) Limited (https://www.hil.gov.in/), and Hindustan Fluorocarbons Limited (HFL) (https://www.hfl.co.in/), a subsidiary of HOCL. The department also manages two autonomous institutes: the Central Institute of Petrochemicals Engineering & Technology (CIPET) (https://www.cipet.gov.in/) ,and the Institute of Pesticides Formulation Technology (IPFT) (https://ipft.gov.in/).