NewsX recently interacted with the President and CEO of AGI Glaspac, Rrajesh Khosla as part of its special series NewsX India A-List, where he explained the growth of the glass market especially during these tough times. Talking about the establishment and journey of AGI Glaspac in 1972, Mr Rrajesh said, “the company primarily focuses on the container glass market, making and producing 1600 tons of container glass and 70 million bottles per day.”
When asked about the mega expansion plan in Bhongir, he said, “part one of the expansion focuses on the speciality glass segment. This glass will be produced for pharmaceuticals, perfumery, biomedicals etc. It will be serving a niche market. Once everything opens after covid, it will be in great demand in European and American market. India will be advantaged as well.” He further added that “Bhongir is already our establishment. We are producing more than 1000 ton glass per day and it is probably the biggest single location glass manufacturing industry in the world. All infrastructure and facilities are there. Telangana is a good state and it helps in the industrial growth.”
Speaking about the overall market share and the brand value in correlation to other industries, Mr Rrajesh said, “India produces almost 7500 to 8000 tons per day and we produce 1600 per day. Almost 20 per cent of the Indian market is our share. But talking about the value-added products, market share is much higher.”
While talking about the factors that have driven the growth story of Glaspac, he said, “Good and healthy relations with customers, investing in new technologies, sustainability and environment concerns are our prime focus”. He added, “the area where we are not present right now is the cosmetic and perfumery sector. And we think this is the right time to enter into the market, as the USA and Europe are about to sign some trade deals with India and new markets are going to open up. So once we open up and we will be well placed in the market.”
He said that as of now Glaspac exports to the USA, Canada, Europe and Africa, which is nearly 10 per cent. However, they hope to export to New Zealand and Australia, where there is a big wine market. Earlier China had a market there, probably with the new dynamics, he hopes that India will get a chance to enter there.
According to him, the good thing that happened during the pandemic is that companies understood their ‘resilience power’ and how to survive in these tough times. He says “in every aspect, the supply chain got disturbed. There were not any supporting systems and the customers were not sure. However, everyone understood the need to be together. Now a visibly strong relation with supply chain and employees can be seen and the commitment level of every employee has multiplied. Along with this, the strengthening of the whole system has increased dramatically.
Atma Nirbhar, in his opinion, is the right mantra at the right time. Stating an example he added, “we were not bothered by vials and almost 50 per cent of bottles have been imported from China. Once the pandemic hit and phr=pharmaceuticals wanted that, we understood its importance.154-ton furnace, one line is dedicated to the vials now, which is produced and sold to the Indian pharmaceuticals which were dependent on China. We strongly believe in Atma Nirbhar, but I do understand that before we switch a hundred per cent over to India, we have to work within ourselves. We should be able to provide what other countries have been providing and satisfy customers needs and I consider that as a major step. It is not only going to increase the economy or output but will also generate employment and within that, there will be further employment and high-end employments.”
The future lies optimistically before Mr Rrajesh and his team as he believes that “whatever disturbances happen to the supply chain, we are gonna bounce back and new investments are going to come.”
