Alpla, a $2 billion global plastic packaging major on Thursday announced its foray into the Indian market in a joint venture with Yodeva Plastics with an investment of $5 million.
The 74:26 joint venture called Alpla India Pvt Ltd with the Austrian company holding the majority stake, has set up its first plant in Baddi in Himachal Pradesh to signal the first foreign direct investment project in the plastics sector in the state.
"We are happy to partner with Yodeva Plastics and together we want to develop the market. There are lots of opportunities in the Indian market and a lot of our global partners are already here so we will be targeting them," Alpla Group's chief executive Guenther Lehner told reporters.
Asked the reason for setting up their plant in Himachal Pradesh, Alpla India managing director Vagish Dixit said with the state offering fiscal benefits in the form of taxation and excise sops to investing companies, it made sense for them to go there as well.
"We believe in being located close to our customers and with quite a few potential customers located in this zone we have followed them. We will also be exploring opportunities in other parts of India as we see immense opportunities in the industry," Lehner said.
{{/usCountry}}"We believe in being located close to our customers and with quite a few potential customers located in this zone we have followed them. We will also be exploring opportunities in other parts of India as we see immense opportunities in the industry," Lehner said.
{{/usCountry}}The company announced Reckitt Benckiser as its anchor client in India with other global majors in the FMCG segment as potential customers.
The Baddi plant will have an initial installed capacity to produce half million bottles per day that is expected to double by next year.
Lehner also said Alpla was actively considering India as an option to establish their Asian technical research centre. Currently, Alpla has four such centres in all continents other than Asia.
The company also plans to begin operations in China early next year and already has operations in Thailand, company officials said.