Germany-based Gapcon to make India its export hub for Asia.

German paper technology giant Gapcon is all set to establish its manufacturing facility in India, thereby making it the hub for exporting in other Asian countries.

The company will set up the first unit at Kalyani in West Bengal, which will be followed by other places in the country.

According to Wolfgang Wiertz, managing director, Gapcon, there is a huge scope of capturing the market share, even with a low growth rate in India.

“The economy and the financial sectors are well established making it a secure and safe investment decision. The availability of basic infrastructure and basic man power is abundance here,” said Wiertz.

The proposed plant is set up in West Bengal with an initial investment of Rs 10 crore.

“There will be ample space for setting up ancillary units either from Germany or from local sources in and around the plant. This will bring in more investment as well as help us in sourcing locally. As of now we are importing all the machineries from Germany,” Wiertz said.

The company is looking at setting up manufacturing units in other parts of the country as well.

“We will first look at catering the Indian market only. Once we establish a foothold here, we might look at exporting to other Asian countries. The idea is to make India our base for our operations in Asia,” he said.

The plant will be operational by the end of September 2011. “All the leading paper and pulp companies in the country such as ITC, BILT, BK Birla Group, Emami, West Coast Paper, are our clients. We have already appointed Solitaire as the consultants for the Bengal project. We not want to waste time,” said Ranajoy Chowdhury, managing director of the Indian arm, Gapcon Engineering.

Source : mydigitalfc.com