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A small, Rs 25-crore unit, tucked away in a remote corner of Jeedimetla industrial area in Hyderabad, will now be able to help bulk drug and fertiliser makers save crores of rupees by supplying a key input.
Started by a first-generation entrepreneur, the company, Standard Glass Lining Technology Ltd, is now the third firm in India to make glass-lined reactors, required by every maker of bulk drugs, fertilisers and chemical products.
Growing demand
The other two players — Indian subsidiaries of US-based GMM Pfaudler and France-based De Deitrich — can together supply hardly 60 per cent of the requirement of about 3,500 such reactors.
While the US firm’s subsidiary produces 800 units annually at its Gujarat unit, the other entity makes 1,200 units in Hyderabad.
The demand for this product is growing in India, as these sectors are switching over from plain stainless steel reactors to glass-lined ones.
The Hyderabad company has come out with glass-lined reactors using the latest patented technology of the Central Glass and Ceramic Research Institute, Kolkata which enhances the life of the reactors as compared with those in the market.
Its cost is just 30 per cent of the imported one, as it is indigenous.
“Pharma and fertiliser companies today have to wait for at least 25-30 weeks to get these reactors from overseas. We are now equipped to supply these in 4-5 weeks,” K. Nageswar Rao, Managing Director, said.
Rao was a senior official of De Deitrich, before he decided to start his own venture using CGCRI technology about a year ago.
Standard Glass has a capacity of 600 units a year, with reactors ranging in size from 63 litres to 1,600 litres, and priced between Rs 3 lakh and Rs 35 lakh.
“In the next two years, we plan to scale up capacity to produce 30,000-lt reactors, currently priced at about Rs 60 lakh each. Only Pfaudler makes such large reactors in India today,” Rao said.
Capacity
Even with this new capacity, there will be a shortfall of about 900 to 1000 units a year in the estimated Rs 300-crore market for such reactors.
“The demand is growing at 30 per cent. We have already received orders for Rs 1 crore from pharma majors, including Dr Reddy’s and Natco. We expect to get orders for 250-300 units in our first year of production,” he said.
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