Arvind forms joint venture with German co for glass fabrics

Arvind Ltd is the flagship enterprise of the $1-billion Lalbhai Group.



The venture will cater to the requirements of industries such as automobiles and transportation, wind energy, aerospace, shipbuilding and infrastructure, which are all growth drivers for glass fabric industry, said Mr Sanjay Lalbhai, Chairman and Managing Director, and Mr Punit Lalbhai, Executive Director (New Initiatives), Arvind Ltd, at a press conference here.



The venture, to be known as Arvind PD Glass Composites Pvt Ltd, will have a 51:49 equity participation from Arvind and PD Group respectively, for a new factory to be set up at Santej in Ahmedabad district. It will have a capacity to manufacture 30,000 tonnes per annum of glass fabrics in five years. It is expected to start production in March 2012 and would export 70 per cent of its products initially.



The current market size of glass and technical-industrial textiles in India is about 60,000 tonnes annually, worth nearly Rs 500-700 crore.



The venture is projected to achieve revenues of Rs 250 crore (35.831.797 €) after the first phase of investments in three years and Rs 500 crore (71.663.594 €) in five years, they added. “We believe the coming years will see the global glass composite industry grow at a staggering 25 per cent every year.”



Targeting a turnover of $1 billion in the next 10 to 15 years in industrial and technical textiles, the Lalbhais said, Arvind Ltd has entered this venture with these new growth drivers, as part of extension of their product line and innovating in the field of advanced textiles.



In the first year of operation, 2012, the company expected revenues of Rs 150 (21.499.078 €) crore, with profit margins being 15-20 per cent.



Mr Stefan Preiss-Daimler, Managing Director, PG Management Group, said his company entered India nearly 20 years ago. It will now bring knowhow to a joint venture in which Arvind’s expertise in weaving technology and PD Group’s in glass fibre would complement each other. The new facility will manufacture woven, bi-axial and multi-axial glass fabrics along with stitched and chopped mat-glass fabrics.