Date:18/02/2006 URL: http://www.thehindubusinessline.com/2006/02/18/stories/2006021803120200.htm

Back India a priority zone, says Saint Gobain CEO

Our Bureau

Mr Jean Louis Beffa

Chennai , Feb. 17

INDIA will be a "priority zone", in the next five years, for investments among emerging countries for the French multinational Saint-Gobain, which has interests in areas such as float glass, abrasives and construction materials.

In India, Saint-Gobain has a presence in float glass, automotive glass, construction products, abrasives, reinforcements, and ceramics and plastics.

Mr Jean Louis Beffa, Chairman and CEO, Compagnie de Saint-Gobain, said that Saint-Gobain would like to assume leadership position in all the businesses it was present in India and would commit the needed investments to achieve this.

Addressing a press conference on Friday, on the occasion of the inauguration of the second float glass plant at the Indian subsidiary, Mr Beffa said the company had achieved this position in float glass and would like to be a leading company for the automotive industry.

He said the automobile industry was growing within India and globally too and Saint-Gobain's proximity to automobile companies (it has its plant in Pune and at Sriperumbudur) was going to be an asset for it.

Mr Beffa lauded what had been achieved at Saint-Gobain Glass India, whose capacity after the commissioning of the second float glass plant had gone up to 1,500 tonnes a day. The Indian experience for Saint-Gobain was the best among the Asian countries, Mr Beffa said and added that India would also play an increasingly important role in technological advancement for the group. The second float glass plant, at the company's existing location at Sriperumbudur has a capacity of 850 tonnes a day and has been set up at a cost of Rs 800 crore, taking the total investment in the facility to about Rs 1,400 crore.

CM calls for investments

MORE INVESTMENTS: The Tamil Nadu Chief Minister, Ms Jayalalithaa, with the Chairman and CEO, Compagnie de Saint-Gobain, Mr Jean Louis Beffa (second from left), and the President, Saint-Gobain Vitrage, Mr Jacques Aschenbroich (left), at the inauguration of the second float glass plant near Chennai on Friday. - Bijoy Ghosh

Inaugurating the second float glass plant, the Tamil Nadu Chief Minister, Ms Jayalalithaa, asked Saint-Gobain to make further investments in the State in making more value-added products. She said it was the State Government's policy — of offering land, a structured financial package, uninterrupted power supply through a dual feeder line and water — that had encouraged the company to go in for the expansion at its existing site.

Mr B. Santhanam, Managing Director, Saint-Gobain Glass India, said the company had a choice of looking at other locations in the country for the second plant, but the speed at which the State Government moved ensured that the expansion took place here itself.