24.6.08

Saint-Gobain to invest Rs.1,000 Cr in Rajasthan

French glass major Saint-Gobain will invest Rs 1,000 crore in setting up one of its largest glass manufacturing facilities in Bhiwadi, Rajasthan as the company seeks to cater to the fast growing demand for glass in the northwest corridor between Mumbai and Delhi. The Bhiwadi glass manufacturing plant will be the company’s second major glass manufacturing location after Sriperumbudur, near Chennai, which houses six units on 177 acres, with a total combined capacity of 450,000 tonnes a year.
The new-float glass unit in Bhiwadi, located about 65 km from the New Delhi airport, will produce glass products for architectural and solar power segments.
This glass manufacturing complex will have a capacity of 300,000 tonnes per year, making it one of the largest plants of SaintGobain globally. The company will be funding the expansion through a combination of debt and equity. The new manufacturing complex at Bhiwadi is expected to be operational by the first quarter of 2010.
With the present expansion, the total investments of Saint-Gobain in glass manufacturing in India will go up to Rs 2,500 crore, with a total production capacity of 750,000 tonnes a year.The company was in talks with the Tamil Nadu government to make additional investments in its existing operations in Sriperumbudur.
Glass consumption in India was growing rapidly over the past five years and total consumption is estimated at 1.05 million tonnes by 2009. It was 65,00,000 tonnes in 2004. Several factors such as legislations on use of safety glasses, the green building movement, solar power generation, among others have been driving the demand not only for the simple glass segment but also for sophisticated value-added segments.

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