Saint-Gobain Glass India has outlined an investment of Rs 175 crore (Rs 1.75 billion) for 2007-09. The investment will be directed towards scaling up its manufacturing capacity to cater to the global markets in the automotive segment.
Speaking at a summit on 'Indian manufacturing competitiveness 2006: Setting the agenda for growth', B Santhanam, MD, Saint-Gobain Glass India, said, "The business for any company evolves over three phases -- building the base, scaling up and innovation. The period from 2003-06 has been the first phase for us. From 2007-09, we will be scaling up our organisation to serve the global markets."
Saint-Gobain Glass India has set up World Glass Complex on 177 acres in Sriperumbudur, Tamil Nadu. The company has invested over Rs 1,400 crore (Rs 14 billion) in the facility which includes both float and automotive glass line within the same complex.
"By mid-2008, we want to build a capacity for manufacturing 1.5 million windshields, one million sets of door glasses and one million backglasses for automobiles," said Santhanam.
The company has serviced five export consignments from March 2006 through the parent company and is looking at 25 per cent revenues from export sales by 2009 for this segment.
Meanwhile, in order to promote innovation and create a talent pool with process expertise and tool design, Saint-Gobain is looking at partnering with the Indian Institute of Technology and the Indian Institute of Science.
"We are in discussions with a few institutes to promote 4-5 research programmes," Santhanam added.
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