 "Saint-Gobain's Rs 300-cr refractory to address global market: CEO")
The company has also initiated expansion of its existing glass manufacturing facility in Sriperumbudur, near Chennai, with an investment of about Rs 800 crore, to make it one of the largest glass manufacturing facilities of the company in the world, said senior management officials.
"The new refractory will be for exports, all around the world. We are also going to add capacity in our glass manufacturing facility in Chennai and majority of that will be for the Indian market," said Pierre-Andre de Chalendar, chairman and chief executive officer, Saint-Gobain.
He said India is an important market and investment destination for Saint-Gobain and over the past 20 years, and the company has made significant investments which enabled the group to establish its presence across the country.
The company's facility in Perundurai and a global R&D centre in Chennai were inaugurated by Tamil Nadu Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa today through video conferencing. The company said it had invested about Rs 200 crore at the R&D centre in IIT Madras Research Park, Chennai, and it is now one of the seven global R&D centres under the Saint-Gobain Research India (SGRI) in the world, working for the global requirements of the company.
He added that the group has been investing around Euro 400 million in research and development every year and this has resulted in an increase in the contribution of new products to the total sales. The new products launched in the past five years contributed around 25% of the total sales, he added.
Anand Tanikella, managing director of Saint-Gobain Research India Pvt Ltd, said the new 12,000-sq-ft facility has a capacity of around 250-300 people. The company has been doing some research and development operations in Chennai for the last three years with around 100 scientists, said Anand Mahajan, general delegate, Saint-Gobain - India. It has already started work and applied for patent for 15 products and launched around 22 products. The facility will work with IIT Madras on affordable housing and seismic solutions among others.