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DÜSSELDORF,
GERMANY (November 27, 2007) --With sales leaping
50 percent annually in
the past two years, New Delhi, India-based Alok
Masterbatches Ltd. is opening its sixth plant,
doubling production capacity, starting a compounding
business division, and aiming to
establish an overseas manufacturing facility.
Director Vikram Bhadauria said last month in an
interview at K 2007 in Düsseldorf that the sixth
plant will start production in late 2008. He said
the new plant is in a tax exempted zone in the
Bhadauria
Indian state of Uttarakhand and will cater to nearby
packaging and auto companies.
The company currently runs 15 masterbatch production
lines at five Indian plants, which are located in
New Delhi,
Bhiwadi, Silvassa and Dadra. The firm has annual
capacity to make 20,000 metric tons of masterbatch.
Bhadauria said the company’s capacity will be
doubled by fiscal year 2008-2009. Upon the
completion of the
expansion, the company will add 25-30 jobs to its
current workforce of 200.
Alok Masterbatches reported sales of $11.3 million
(84 million yuan) in fiscal year 2006-2007, of which
15 percent
was generated from exports to the Middle East,
southern Asia, Russia and Europe. The company
projects the
percentage of export to rise to around 20 percent
for this year.
“The K show is our sixth international show in
2006-2007,” Bhadauria said, “We aim to consolidate
our position by
having an international manufacturing location
soon.” He did not provide details about the overseas
plant.
Alok’s product portfolio consists of color, black,
white, additive and filler masterbatches. Its end
customers include
Unilever NV, L’Oreal, LG Electronics Co. and Samsung
Electronics Co. Ltd. Bhadauria said the company is
the
largest supplier of ultraviolet masterbatches in
India.
To add to the masterbatch business, Alok recently
started a compounding arm --Alkom Specialties
Compounds -
making cross-linked polyethylene compound for the
power cable industry.
“This is specifically to ride the boom in the power
sector in India.” The 10,000-square-meter facility
in Bhiwadi
started commercial shipments in August.
Alkom currently is able to make 400 metric tons of
compounds a month, using a Coperion 75 millimeter
twin-
screw extruder, K-Tron feeders and a Gala underwater
pelletizer.
“India’s power cable industry grows 50 percent
annually and expects to receive $10 billion [74
billion yuan] of
investment by 2012,” Bhadauria said. Cross-linked PE
is used for pipes and rotational molded fuel and
chemical
tanks as well, he added.
Alkom plans to open a second production site in
western India in the next three years.
Bhadauria holds a master’s degree in polymer science
from the University of Massachusetts.
Entire contents copyright 2007 by Crain
Communications Inc. All rights reserved.
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