| Saint-Gobain
to inject Rs 500 cr in local unit |
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French multinational Saint-Gobain
Glass has committed to invest US$ 100 mln into
its float glass facility in Tamil Nadu over the
next 3-4 years. This is likely to ramp up production
to meet the growing demand of automotive glass.
Saint-Gobain has already pumped
in US$ 100 mln worth of investments in its greenfield
project in Tamil Nadu during the past four years.
Besides it also has successfully designed and
constructed the raw material processing plants
of the Float line — Silica Sand Processing
Plant at Tada in Andhra Pradesh. While these plants
are now fully operational, new investments will
double the existing capacity by next year.
With demand picking up in the
domestic market, especially in the construction
industry, Saint-Gobain was selling almost 80%
of its production in the domestic market and exporting
the rest.
The parent company, which is
keen to introduce new products in the domestic
market, is also on the look-out for acquisitions
in the domestic market. It already has four group
companies operating in India, but there are no
plans to integrate these business units.
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| Unilever
sets up global sourcing arm in India |
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| The parent
company of Hindustan Lever, Unilever has set up
a global sourcing arm, which will have a large presence
in India to buy products and raw materials from
low-cost locations for its subsidiaries across the
world. While the global sourcing organisation will
be based in the UK, market pressure is forcing the
consumer products giant to outsource manufacturing
activities.
In doing so the company plans to develop and implement
buying strategies for materials on a regional and
global scale and exploit expertise synergies.
In Asia, the
regional buying operation will be based in Mumbai
and will be responsible for developing Asian sources
of raw materials and packaging material.
A major factor
driving Unilever are the highly competitive costs
at which the company can leverage scale and common
expertise.
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| Auto
firms join Great Indian Rally, part by part |
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| The Indian
auto industry has moved into the next gear in terms
of auto component manufacture, with automobile majors
increasingly sourcing critical components such as
engines, transmissions and gearboxes from India.
Among these majors,
Japanese Toyota is investing US$ 84.4 mln with US$
77.8 mln from Maruti Udyog for setting up transmission
and engine plants.
Korean Hyundai
has boosted its engine transmission facility in
Chennai to a capacity of 2.5 lakh cars and 3.5 lakh
engine transmission units per annum, with an investment
of $1bln. The unit now supplies engines and transmissions
to its operations in Korea and Turkey.
In doing so auto
majors seem to be following the trend set by tier-1
auto component manufacturers. |
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| Competitive
cost of manufacturing combined with
the availability of engineering talent
and an indigenous machine tool/forging
industry are some of the reasons sited
by international players looking to
source from India.
Also with India becoming a sourcing
hub for mission critical components
in the automobile and auto-ancillary
industry, Indian companies have enhanced
their facilities, to adhere to quality
norms that are among the toughest in
the world.
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| The Toyota
Kirloskar Auto Parts (TKAP) plant, backed by an
investment of US$ 84.4 mln, is set to supply manual
transmission gear-boxes to Toyota Motor’s
(TMC) world-wide markets.
Starting with
transmission systems, meant for the new integrated
multi-purpose vehicle (IMV) that TMC is set to launch
in Thailand, Indonesia and Vietnam; the 100% export-oriented
unit (EOU), can produce 160,000 units annually.
Maruti, which
accounts for 18%-19% in the diesel car market, plans
to start making its own common rail direct injection
diesel (CRDi) engines (using Fiat technology) from
its new plant in Haryana in ’06.
The technology
being sourced with from Fiat and Opel Adam, both
General Motors (GM) group companies, the engines
are likely to be supplied to General Motors and
Fiat in India. The alliance is expected to help
meet the growing demand for diesel engine cars in
the Indian market. With a capacity for 1,00,000
diesel engines in the 1,300-cc category in a year,
Maruti could look at powering compact or entry-level
mid-size cars reducing its dependence on imports.
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