Masterbatch maker Kandui Industries Pvt. Ltd. is building a third facility to open later this year in the Indian city of Daman to meet growing demand.
The Mumbai-based firm currently has two plants in Daman, on India's west coast, with an installed capacity of 60,000 metric tons a year. It acquired an adjoining factory last year.
"We are investing about $2.5 million in the third plant, which will have capacity of 12,000 metric tons annually in its first year," Managing Director Ashwin Agarwal said.
The company is targeting opening the new plant in September, and it said the facility will focus on engineering plastics compounds for automotive, electrical and white goods markets.
"These all are value-added products and offer huge growth opportunities in the near future," Agarwal said.
This year marked the first time the company has exhibited at NPE, and Agarwal said the company wants to build on its research and development efforts to better explore the U.S. market.
"Considering the range of products KIPL offers and our strong R&D infrastructure to develop new customized products, NPE provides us a platform to explore trade possibilities in the U.S., North American and Latin American markets," he said.
The company exports to more than 40 countries but has yet to enter the U.S. market. NPE helped it understand requirements in the American market, he said.
It said it plans to put a 40,000-square-foot R&D center in the new facility in Daman. Kandui said it was the first company in India to produce black masterbatch using split-feed technology and the second in the country to produce black masterbatch for man-made fibers.
Agarwal said an R&D focus in the broader industry is also helping to fuel growth, and he said the Indian masterbatch market is shifting toward bio-based and sustainable solutions.
As well, he said overall market growth is coming from introducing color solutions and from the specialized masterbatch formulations needed in the health care and electronics sectors.
Agarwal said the company, which formed in 2006, has been growing at 15 percent annually and expects to increase that rate with the new plant. It had sales of $36 million in the 2023-24 fiscal year and aims to more than double that to $90 million by 2028.
It sources its equipment from European or U.S. brands like Coperion, KraussMaffei Berstorff and Farrel Pomini, as well as India's Steer Engineering.
In 2020, the company entered into a joint venture with Cincinnati-based Okeanos, which makes a low density, high calcium carbonate material designed to substitute in plastic formulations and reduce the carbon footprint of packaging.