Rohm & Haas sees revenues rising two-fold

U.S.-based Rohm and Haas, a specialty chemicals giant, has ambitious plans for India. The company sees its two manufacturing units in the country to contribute Rs 1,000 crores (US$250 million) to its revenues in the next three to four years from about Rs 400 (US$100 million) currently. It is also setting up a process engineering and research and development (R&D) center in India, which would participate in product development for the global market. “India is very important for Rohm and Haas’ future strategy. We will be a big player here in the specialty chemicals business,” Raj Gupta, chairman and CEO, said. Products applications are in two main industries: paint and coatings and electronics. “50% of our revenues come from North and South America, 25% from Europe and 25% from Asia. In five years, we are looking at a 40:20:40 split. Hence India, Japan, China are important growth geographies for us,” Gupta said. Rohm and Haas signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with Reliance Industries earlier this year to explore possibilities for an acrylic acid and ester manufacturing facility in India, but has not yet firmed up its equity contribution in the project. (September 5, 2007)