US Rohm and Haas to set up manufacturing base in India

US Rohm and Haas to set up manufacturing base in India

NEW DELHI, MAR 3: US-based seven billion dollars specialist chemical manufacturer Rohm and Haas is planning to set up a manufacturing facility in the country to produce polymers and water treatment chemicals.

"The investment would come through in the next couple ofmonths and would bring home speciality polymers and chemicals for a wide range of applications including polymers for paints and coatings, household goods and personal care products, adhesives and sealants, agrochemicals and salt, water treatment products and electronic chemical," he said.

The value chain would help consolidate Rohm and Haas for its $ 20 million operations in the country, Gupta added. Stating that India can become a major player in the $ 1.6 trillion chemicals market, Gupta said Indian companies need to do a lot of value addition to their products and reposition their business through picking and choosing speciality areas.

"India should resist from the temptation to become a commodity producer and instead concentrate more on high value addition and creative expertise in the open market," he said.

Outlining the areas where India can score over itscounterparts, he said focusing on electronic chemicals including semi-conductors, which has a 20 billion dollar global markets, could provide it the market leader position.

Drawing a comparison between India and China, Gupta said China has the right infrastrcture and a consistent economic policy regime to boost investor confidence.

Reprojecting India as "the destination for foreigninvestment" with English-speaking skilled manpower and putting in place physical and policy infrastructure for a free market economy with consistent policy structure would help achieve greater growth, he said.