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Our Bureau

Chennai , Feb. 25

WITH the first phase of its automotive glass manufacturing facility going on stream near Chennai, Asahi India Glass Ltd plans to invest another Rs 62 crore in the facility in 2005-06, advancing the next two phases of its investment programme by a few months.

Mr Sanjay Labroo, Managing Director, Asahi India Glass, told reporters here today that Rs 42 crore would be invested in a unit to make tempered glass, by August 2005. The third phase to expand the laminated windshield manufacturing capacity, which was originally planned for end-2006, would now be implemented at the beginning of the year and Rs 20 crore would be invested in this.

The company today inaugurated its facility at Irungattukottai, about 45 km to the west of Chennai, to make 5,00,000 laminated windshield sets. The company has committed a total investment of Rs 180 crore in this facility, to be done in phases.

Mr Labroo said that the last two phases of expansion at the plant, which were originally planned to be completed by 2007, might have to be advanced.

The company is also putting up an architectural glass plant (to cater to the construction industry) at this facility, having a capacity of about 4,00,000 sq m of tempered glass and at an investment of Rs 10-12 crore.

Mr Labroo said the company was positive in its outlook for the Chennai plant mainly because of the response it had got from its customers and also because the market was looking good.

Ideally, he would like to have a float glass unit at Irungattukottai and an automotive glass making facility at Taloja, near Mumbai, so that all the facilities became integrated glass manufacturing plants. Asahi India has a float glass plant at Taloja and an architectural glass unit there will go on stream shortly. It is putting up an integrated glass unit at Roorkee in Uttaranchal. The company will invest in all about Rs 920 crore in the next two years.

For the Chennai plant, the company sources raw glass from Saint-Gobain Glass India, Gujarat Guardian, its own plant and through imports from Thailand and Indonesia.

The company plans to start exports of automotive glass from its plant at Rewari in Haryana by April and would then handle exports out of the Chennai plant.

Apart from the customers that Asahi India had lined up earlier — automobile manufacturers such as Hyundai Motor India, Toyota Kirloskar, Ford India, Hindustan Motors and Volvo — it has also secured orders from Piaggio, Bajaj and Ashok Leyland.

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Asahi plans to invest Rs 62 crore more in Chennai facility

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