The Hindu Business Line : Asahi India plans expansion, to invest Rs 600 cr

ASAHI India Glass on Tuesday said it is planning to invest about Rs 600 crore to Rs 700 crore over the next few years towards capacity expansion and setting up new plants.

The company's new facilities would include two new processing plants and a float glass plant. "We would definitely require a new float glass plant over the next few years and setting up the same would require an investment of about Rs 400 crore-500 crore", Mr Sanjay Labroo, Managing Director and CEO of Asahi India Glass, said.

Further, the two new processing plants (which are set to come up in the North and the South) are to be modelled on the same lines as the architecture processing plant in Taloja, Maharashtra.

The company intends to spend about Rs 50 crore towards the three processing plants.

Meanwhile, Asahi India's new plant in Chennai for automotive glass is to be commissioned in November this year. "The plant will be completed in phases. We plan to invest about Rs 170 crore in the plant, out of which Rs 54 crore would be invested in this fiscal", Mr Labroo said.

In order to establish a connect with the end-consumer, Asahi On Tuesday announced that it has established a new umbrella brand - AIS - across all its divisions and subsidiaries. It also announced the establishment of a new subsidiary, AIS Glass Solutions, to market glass products and services, such as tempered glass, burglar-proof glass and sound-proof glass.

In other words, the new subsidiary would be used to promote greater use of value-added glass in buildings by increasing awareness among architects and users.

Per-capita glass consumption in India is only about 0.56 kg a year, compared with China's 3.5 kg and 6 kg in Thailand. Only four per cent of the glass used by India's construction industry is treated (either glazed or laminated).

"We, however, expect this number to increase to 10 per cent over the next few years and the market to grow to about Rs 1,000 crore in this period", Mr Labroo said.

Asahi India, a joint venture between Japan's Asahi Glass Co, Labroo family and Maruti Udyog Ltd, is targeting a sales growth of 15-16 per cent this year.

"The automotive segment will continue to drive sales for the company as the segment is growing at about 18-19 per cent. Further we have a market share of about 90 per cent in this segment", he said.