Saint Gobain opens third manufacturing plant In India

French glassmaker Saint Gobain opened its third float glass manufacturing plant at the World Glass Complex, Sriperumbudur, Chennai. The plant was built at a cost of $169 million (Rs 1200 crore) and will cater to both domestic and international markets. With this, the company′s cumulative investment in the Glass Complex at Sriperumbudur has crossed $422 million (Rs 3,000 crore), the single largest investment destination of Saint Gobain globally. Since its entry into India in 1996, the company has invested about $1 billion (Rs 7,500 crore). Pierre-Andre de Chalendar, Chairman and CEO, Saint Gobain group, said: “India is one of the fastest growing markets for Saint Gobain and is a very profitable market. Indian sales account for close to 2 per cent of our global sales.” The company is planning to triple its sales revenue in the next 10 years. "In last few years, the Indian market has been self-funding itself as investments made here are funded from the profit we make here. The brand recall of Saint-Gobain in India is as good as it is in France. Indeed, we are as much an Indian company as we are French," Chalender said adding that the primary investment in India is for the local market and vast majority of the products the company manufactures will be sold here.