Glass industry: reflecting a rosy picture

Traditionaly dominated by local players, the industry is seeing a slew of global players planning to set up new units in India.To match this, intense competition domestic glass industry has been forced to expand its capacities and diversify into newer areas.

The glass industry in India -- comprising glass making and processing -- is expected to maintain a steady growth rate of 10 per cent in coming five years due to rise in infrastructure activities across the country, an industry insider said.

''Glass industry has the potential to become a sunshine industry and can attract substantial investments in the coming years as India provides a huge market,'' Korean glass maker DM Wall System Co Ltd CEO K H Shin told UNI.

DM Wall, which started its India operations with a single plant manufacturing ACP panels in Sriperumbudur in Chennai is pumping in an additional Rs 13 crore to set up another unit to make wooden and marble embedded glass panels and ACO corroted sheet glasses.

''The new unit in Chennai will add to our capacities and will help in diversifying our product line. The company has already bought a piece of land near the existing plant and will start production by October,'' Mr Shin said.