08.04.2011 | 12:45

    

According to reports of ОКNА МЕDIА portal, Saint Gobain, the industry-leading producer of float glass, spends one in every 4 euros on its production facilities in India, gradually covering ever growing share of the market.

When it comes to India, Saint Gobain is always willing to loosen its purse strings. This market-leading glass maker is going to double its investments in India in the next five years -- and pump in Rs 3,000 crore to expand its India operations and capture over 40% of the Indian market.

Santhanam, MD, Saint-Gobain India said that in the architectural float glass market the company currently held 37% by value. And this market share is expected to go up to 40 - 44% in the coming years because of these huge investment plans.

This is a revival of the company's expansion plans that had to be paused due to the global economic slowdown. Its Rajasthan plant, which was supposed to go on-stream by early 2010, will now begin production only in 2012. For phase one, the company will invest about Rs 1,000 crore and make this plant bigger than its existing Chennai facility.

Santhanam explained that the company would bring several technology and process innovations into this plant. In terms of energy efficiency this will be more efficient than its Chennai facility, by about10%. Again in terms of capacity it will be larger than its Chennai facility by 10%.

Clearly, the meltdown has not taken the sheen off India as an investment destination for Saint Gobain. Furthermore, it plans a brand new integrated glass complex in Chennai to supply glass to the solar industry. This will entail an investment of Rs 1,000 crore.