The glass industry in India is quite old and well established. The glass makers employed methods such as moulding, folding, twisting, double-stripping and wire-winding to manufacture glass. It remained largely a cottage industry for a long time. In recent years, the industry has transformed and developed. From rudimentary mouth blown and hand-working processes, the industry has evolved to adopt modern processes and automation in a large way. However, mouth blown processes and handcrafted glassware continue to play a role in developing innovative designs in decorative and table glassware products that are exported in large quantities.

The Indian glass industry has been growing across all segments. Sheet and float glass have recorded good growth. This growth has been driven primarily by India’s automotive glazing, and construction sectors. Exports of glassware from India have been growing at a rate of 7% CAGR over the period. The global market for Indian glassware is fragmented and spread across several countries, with no dominant market. USA is the biggest market for Indian glass products. UAE & Poland are the other key markets.

The growth in India’s glass industry is being driven by user segments such as manufacturing, construction, automotive and petrochemicals. These segments are highly competitive, demanding and well-integrated with global trends. Supplying to key players in these segments will require the glass manufacturers to be capable of developing technically advanced products and customer specifications to user requirements. Hence, technological capability is a key success factor in the industry today.

The glass industry is highly energy intensive and energy consumption is a major cost driver. Energy costs include power consumption and running costs of furnaces. Safety and environmental requirements are also key drivers of costs in this area. The average energy cost as a percentage of manufacturing cost is 30 per cent. Amid these constraints, glass manufacturers need to find innovative ways for improving energy efficiency and also explore alternate sources of energy. Energy saving strategies such as higher temperature refractories could be adopted. Re-using waste heat to pre-heat new batches is another option that has been estimated to yield upto18% savings in energy. The recycling of glass also leads to an estimated savings of 15-35%.

Road Ahead

Demand in Housing Automobile and Manufacturing segments are seen rising therefore the demand of glass also will rise going further. We expect 6-7% growth in the sector forward.

BENEFICIARIES: ASAHI INDIA, LA OPALA RG, BOROSIL, EMPIRE IND, SAINT GOBIAN.