India currently experiences a boost in the production of injection moulded components. In reaction to the impact of cost increases on the markets in Taiwan, Korea and Thailand, Japanese and Korean as well as US manufacturers from the automotive, IT and domestic applicances industry have relocated their production of both plastic components and moulds to the Indian subcontinent. The proliferation of India´s plastics sector is reflected in the growing popularity of special exhibitions in this country, India´s most important plastics exhibition, “Plastindia” (www.plastindia.org), which took place from 15 to 20 February 2003 in New Delhi, with more than 1,400 exhibitors.

With a population of 1bn and a plastic consumption of 3.7 kg per capita in 2002, the Indian industry posts an annual production volume of roughly 4m t. India produces plastic materials such as PE, PMMA, PP, PVC, PS, PA, PC and ABS. In 2002, the country exported mainly injection moulded components, extruded finished articles, pipes and films but also raw materials for plastics processors at an overall value of USD 1.1 bn.

India has 15 plastics producers with industrial-size, large production facilities and more than 22,000 plastics processing enterprises. With production increases of between 12 % and 15% over the past years, the Indian plastics sector has become known as the “sunrise” industry. Insiders are predicting production figures to double to more than 7.3m t of plastics by 2006 and to quadruple to 14.5m t by 2010. In terms of global plastics consumption, India is expected to take the third place after the US and China in the long term.

According to the purchasing departments of German suppliers to the automotive industry, India´s injection moulding companies with sufficient expertise and modern machinery are conglomerating in the Delhi, Bombay and Poona areas, but there are also some enterprises with facilities in Bangalore in the south of India. Sumi Motherson (IND-201301 Noida; www.motherson.com) with facilities in the outskirts of New Delhi has been supplying injection moulded components and moulds to large companies such as Hewlett-Packard, Electrolux, Ford, General Motors and Suzuki. The fact that 55% of the shares in Sumi Motherson are held by Japanese businessmen is not unusual, since Japanese expatriats are involved in the management or engineering departments of this company. The company product range offers complete services from development to large-series production for all customers, local or foreign. Facilities include special rapid tooling and rapid prototyping departments.

For some years, India has been able to supply the special steel required for mould making and additional equipment for hot runner moulds at short notice. The expansion of multinational chemical companies in India dispenses with imports, because the new local chemical plants can now supply pellets or glass-fibre compounding materials from their own production. In cooperation with an Indian partner and a German plant manager, Basell is now producing PP pellets for the modernised Indian automotive industry.