Jhagadia - The governments of both countries have declared the period from mid-2011 to mid-2012 as the “German-Indian” year. Federal Chancellor Angela Merkel opened the celebrations on a journey to Indian last year, when she visited New Delhi. Indian is also currently a point of focus for LANXESS. At the beginning of the year two new plants were inaugurated on the subcontinent in front of some 150 employees!

“India is one of the most important growth markets for LANXESS. The continuing trends of mobility and urbanization contribute to the success of our company on the subcontinent.  And we want to growth further and make use of the opportunities that present themselves here through the economic growth,” said Board Member Dr. Rainier van Roessel at the inauguration of two new production sites in Jhagadia in the Federal State of Gujarat. Joining van Roessel at the opening ceremony were Country Representative Dr. Jörg Straßburger, Dr. Torsten Derr (Head of the Material Protection Products Division) and Dr. Anno Borkowsky (Head of the Rhein Chemie Division).

The new, modern facilities are part of the LANXESS Material Protection Products and Rhein Chemie Divisions. Among other products, the biocide Preventol will be manufactured there, as well as Rhenogran® and Rhenodiv®, which is used in the manufacturing of tires.

Experts estimate that India will experience an extraordinary automobile boom over the next few years. 1.2 million people live on the subcontinent – and only the select few currently own a car. The Indian automobile market is set to grow by around 9.5 percent in 2012. Hand in hand with this comes, of course, an increase in tire production in India – and both automobile manufacturers and many tire manufacturers in the country are customers of LANXESS. The Auto Expo in New Delhi, which featured many new exhibitions and attracted all of the notable manufacturers as well as a large number of visitors, has just come to an end. This demonstrates how highly the automotive sector in India is prioritized.

Since 2008 the site in the Federal State of Gujarat has been gradually developed into a center for specialist chemicals, which serves not only customers in India, but also throughout the whole of Asia-Pacific. In total around 70 million Euros have been invested in the site to date, creating 289 new jobs. In 2010 a modern plant for ion exchangers was inaugurated, which supplies hi-tech products for water treatment. In addition to that the Rubber Chemicals production was moved from thane to Jhagadia the same year.

Jhagadia has established itself as an international business location, competing with sites in China and Singapore, among others. In the selection process the Jhagadia Chemical Park was an obvious decision, as there already existed a good industrial infrastructure in this location.

The facility is set to grow further in the near future: at the end of January a new plant for hi-tech plastics will be inaugurated, which will likewise be sold to the automotive industry. From 1 to 6 February LANXESS will be represented at the world’s largest specialist trade fair dedicated to plastics: “Plastindia”. Chairman of the Board of Management Dr. Axel C. Heitmann and his colleague on the Board, Dr. Werner Breuers, will also be attending the event.