Asahi India said it will set up a state-of-the-art automotive glass plant near Mehsana in Gujarat, primarily to meet the requirements of Maruti Suzuki at its newly-established Gujarat plant.
AIS will invest up to Rs 500 crore in the facility in two phases, it said.
In the first phase, the plant will have capacities to produce 1 million laminated glasses and 1.2 million tempered glass sets per year.
nvestment for the first phase was approved at the AIS board meeting held yesterday.
“This investment is in line with the MAKE IN INDIA initiative launched by the Government of India, and with this investment, AIS will further expand its footprint across India with manufacturing plants and advanced sub-assembly units across multiple locations in the country,” the company said.
“Our symbiotic relationship with Maruti Suzuki India Limited will be further strengthened with this greenfield investment near Maruti Suzuki’s Gujarat plant,” said Sanjay Labroo, MD & CEO, of Asahi India Glass.
“The new plant will be equipped with the latest global technologies in automotive glass, and will also have the ability to manufacture the entire range of higher value-added automotive glass products,” he added.
Asahi India Glass is a prominent player both in the automotive and building glass segment, commanding about 78% share in the Indian passenger car glass market and has been in the market for about 3 decades.
Established in 1986, AIS has four automotive plants, located at Bawal (Haryana), Roorkee (Uttaranchal), Taloja (Maharashtra) and Chennai (Tamil Nadu) and several advanced subassembly units in Bangalore, Pune and Kadi (Gujarat).
Last year, Japan-based Suzuki Motor Corp said it would invest Rs 2,600 crore to build an assembly plant in India and an engine and transmission unit.
The units, in Mehsana in Gujarat, will become operational in 2019 and serve Indian and export markets.
Suzuki Motor Corp. has entered into a contract manufacturing agreement with Maruti Suzuki India, under which it will produce and sell vehicles to the latter.