Indian expansions: Gerresheimer opens second plant in India; Tanaka sets up new base in India

Less than a week after pharma and healthcare packaging supplier Gerresheimer announced a new plant in China www.injectionmouldingasia.com/dec2019/plants-gerresheimer-to-expand-to-china-rosti-to-build-new-factory-in-romania.html it has opened a second plant in India.

The German firm says it has had a strong foothold in India for some years through Triveni Polymers Pvt. Ltd. in Kundli. A second production site is now being opened in the city of Kosamba, in the district of Surat, to help bolster production capacity to cope with the high demand for Triveni round containers.

“Today marks the start of a new chapter in the success story of Gerresheimer and Triveni. We acquired a majority stake in the company on December 18, 2012 and now, seven years later, we are opening a new production site to boost our capacity,” said Niels Düring, Global Executive Vice President at Gerresheimer Plastic Packaging. He added that with the second site up and running and the warehouses available in Hyderabad, it will be possible to significantly reduce the time it takes to deliver products to customers, enhance supply performance, cover a wider area, and ensure business continuity.

Production of Triveni round containers is due to begin in class-8 and class-9 clean rooms at the end of the year. At the same plant, Gerresheimer Mumbai will be making vials out of tubular glass for pharmaceutical and diagnostic applications, as well as ampoules. Next in the pipeline is a new production facility that is being built as a greenfield project on the same industrial park.

Meanwhile, in other news, Japanese automotive catalysts supplier Tanaka Holdings has set up a sales office in India to cater to sales from India, the Middle East and Africa.

Until now, sales activities in India, the Middle East and Africa have mainly been conducted by Tanaka Singapore. The newly established subsidiary will aim to expand sales channels for precious metal products in the growing markets in India, the Middle East and Africa and enable more strategic sales activities. Mumbai, where the new office is established, is located in the geographical centre of India, enabling quick and flexible support for customers throughout India. Moreover, Tanaka says it will be able to greatly increase sales activities in the Middle East and Africa region. The new Indian base aims to achieve annual sales of 3 billion yen five years from now in 2024.

In the current Indian market, there is movement from China in the manufacturing industry against the backdrop of US-China trade friction and increasing wages. On September 20, 2019, the Indian government announced a significant corporate income tax cut. The effective tax rate is expected to go from 35% to 25% and the manufacturing industry established after October 1, 2019 is expected to be taxed at the world's lowest level of 15%. Further increases in manufacturing demand in India are expected in the future.

In addition, regarding automotive catalysts in India, the Bharat Stage 6 (BS-6) emission standards (equivalent to the Euro 6 European emission standards) are scheduled to begin in April 2020. Demand for a stable supply of precious metals required for exhaust gas purification, including automotive precious metal catalyst compounds, is expected to increase, and Tanaka Previous Metals, a global precious metal specialist manufacturer, is able to achieve stable supply of precious metal materials to the Indian market, it adds.

In the energy field, India has traditionally relied heavily on oil and other fossil fuels, but in recent years, environmental awareness has increased and global trends including the shift to clean energy and combined technologies are gaining popularity. Precious metal products used for environmental measures, including Tanaka fuel cell catalysts, which have the top share in the global market, are expected to be used in a wide range of applications in India to realize a next-generation energy society that uses hydrogen energy and renewable energy.

In addition, with regards to the semiconductor market, which has mainly been limited in China and other countries, the National Policy on Electronics 2019 (NPE 2019), a government policy that aims to make India the hub of global electronic equipment system design and manufacturing (ESDM), was announced as a successor to the National Policy on Electronics 2012 (NPE 2012) announced in 2012. The Indian government has set a new goal to achieve sales of $400 billion across the entire value chain of electronic equipment design and manufacturing by 2025, and demand for precious metal products required for semiconductors is expected to increase further.

Further, the branch office is also looking forward to joint research with companies, universities, and other research institutions in the vicinity.

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