Hempel expands its Indian operations

Hempel, one of the world’s leading industrial and marine paint suppliers, is expanding its operations in the Indian subcontinent, with the opening of a manufacturing unit in Nashik, Maharashtra.

The company also plans to invest approximately €15-20M in a greenfield project over a period of three years. "We are excited to expand our presence in the Indian subcontinent and supply not only India but also Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, the Maldives and Nepal,” said Kim Junge Andersen, CFO, Hempel. "We’ve had very positive experiences with our organisation in India and the new plant will significantly boost our ability to serve our growing customer base in this region.”

The plant will feature the latest in environmentally friendly coating production equipment, including a semi-automatic powder handling system, an automatic liquid dosing system and a solvent recovery unit. Designed to house raw materials and the finished product under one roof, the one-building factory is spread across a 1500m2 plot. The factory will produce 1.5M litres/yr, with a capacity to raise this to 2.4M litres if required.

"India is a very important market for Hempel and the expansion will fast track our growth in the region,” said Umesh Singh, director, Hempel South Asia. "While Hempel already has a large share of the global market in segments including wind turbines, cranes and infrastructures, India has also seen rapid growth in these segments. We look forward to supplying protective and marine coatings to the growing markets for these segments in South Asia. In these markets, our goal is to double our 2010 turnover to above €18M by 2013 and to triple turnover to more than €25M by the end of 2015.”