Rohm and Haas expands in India

Rohm and Haas Company celebrated the inauguration of its second, state-of-the-art acrylic emulsions facility in India to meet growing demand for its environmentally advanced products and technology in this important region. The Chennai facility, located in the Sriperambudur industrial area of Tamil Nadu in South India, is opening with the capacity to make 30,000 to 40,000 metric tons a year of specialty materials used in the manufacture of paints and coatings, adhesives, textiles, paper and leather.

The plant, which cost $12 million to build, is a “zero discharge” facility that meets very stringent environmental standards set by the state of Tamil Nadu. The Chennai facility will also operate under the company’s “21st Century” program which strives for reliable, cost-effective manufacturing facilities and a competent, motivated workforce continually focused on improvement. The largest and fastest-growing supplier of environmentally advanced acrylic emulsions.

The company also is doubling the capacity of its 35,000 metric ton facility in Taloja, which is located near Mumbai in the state of Maharashtra. The combined capacity of Taloja and Chennai (100, 000 to 110,000 metric tons per year) makes Rohm and Haas India’s largest and fastest-growing producer of environmentally advanced emulsions and additives for paints and coatings and other waterbased polymer industries. The company also has the leading position for solventless and water-based adhesives used by India’s packaging & converting industry.

“India is a critical component of our company’s overall growth strategy,” said Rohm and Haas chairman and CEO Raj L. Gupta, who is visiting customers, government officials and employees throughout India as part of the celebration of the new plant. “In fact, we believe more than 80% of our sales growth between now and 2010 will take place in the fastest-growing markets of the world – India, China, Southeast Asia, Central and Eastern Europe.”

Rohm and Haas has been an increasingly important participant in the Indian market since 1995, when the company opened its first sales offices in Delhi and Mumbai. The company expects to report $100 million in sales revenue for India in 2007, and targets to more than double sales to $250 million here over the next five years.