Saint Gobain to pump in Rs 3K cr for expansion in India

When it comes to India, Saint Gobain is more than willing to loosen its purse strings. The glass manufacturer is looking 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.

B Santhanam, MD, Saint-Gobain India says, "In the architectural flat glass market we currently hold 37% by value. We expect this market share to go up to 40 - 44% in the coming years because of the huge investment plans that we have."

This is a revival of its 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, it will invest about Rs 1,000 crore and make this plant bigger than its existing Chennai facility.

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