Birla eyeing global carbon fibre market

The applications for the material range from aircraft and spacecrafts to racing cars

Indian billionaire Kumar Mangalam Birla is exploring entry into the production of carbon fibre, a high-strength and light-weight composite material expected to be a $4.7-billion global business by 2022, according to a person familiar with his plans.

The Aditya Birla Group, the $40-billion mining-to-mobile phone carrier conglomerate, may buy the technology to manufacture carbon fibre at one of its existing overseas manufacturing facilities, said the person, asking not to be identified because the plan is private. Another option is to buy a carbon fibre plant from another company if the technology is too complex to be adapted at Birla plants, the