The Hindu Business Line : Saint-Gobain's 2nd float line to go on stream by year-end

SAINT-Gobain Glass India Ltd will commission its second float glass line before 2005-end, after which its float glass capacity will more than double to about 1,500 tonnes a day. At present, the company has a capacity to produce 650 tonnes of float glass a day.

The company will invest about Rs 830 crore for the expansion and setting up of facilities to make laminated and toughened glass. With this, the total investment by Saint-Gobain in its Indian operations will be about Rs 1,400 crore.

Saint-Gobain Glass India's plant is located at Sriperumbudur near Chennai. The investment for the expansion is also higher than what the company had committed when it signed an expression of commitment with the Tamil Nadu Government in October 2003.

At that time, the company had assured the State Government that it would invest about Rs 500 crore.

The second float line will also be going on stream at least six months ahead of schedule. Originally, the line was to have been commissioned by mid-2006.

"We are marginally ahead of schedule," said Mr B. Santhanam, Managing Director, Saint-Gobain Glass India. The second float line will go on stream in the last quarter of 2005.

With this, Saint-Gobain Glass India, a subsidiary of Saint-Gobain of France, will have the capability to make a range of advanced premium glass.

A line to make laminated glass, which finds use in the automobile industry, will be commissioned in the first week of May.

This line will have the capacity to make 500,000 glass sets a year and is "highly scalable." Mr Santhanam said that the company is investing in a line to produce toughened glass, also for automotive applications.

This will have a capacity to make one million car sets a year and the first phase is expected to begin production by the year-end. The second phase will be ready by mid-2006.

The total investment for the expansion and production facilities for laminated and toughened glass will be through a mix of equity, internal accruals and debt, according to Mr Santhanam. Saint-Gobain Glass will also increase its captive power capacity from 6 MW at present to 14 MW. The captive power plant uses furnace oil as fuel.

Apart from this, Mr Santhanam said the State Government had assured the company of uninterrupted power supply.

The company is also making investments in environment control activities. It will spend about Rs 25 crore on the latest electrostatic precipitators and other facilities and about Rs 5 crore on complete rainwater harvesting and collection.

Once the expanded facility goes on stream, Saint-Gobain Glass India will have a 1.2-million sq ft of roof area.

The company has created a 200,000-sq ft lake within its premises to collect rainwater run-off.

To a question, Mr Santhanam said the expanded facility would be the single largest integrated glass complex in the Saint-Gobain family to be set up in recent times.

The company will dedicate between 30 per cent and 50 per cent of its total capacity to exports.

Currently, exports constitute about 20 per cent of total production.

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