By Satnam Singh
CORRESPONDENT
Published: December 23, 2013 9:50 am ET
Updated: December 23, 2013 9:52 am ET
MUMBAI, INDIA — Taiwan-based machinery supplier Huarong Plastic Machinery Co. Ltd. plans to establish an assembly operation in India.
“India is one of our biggest markets and the plant would help us to be near to our customer[s] and serve this market more effectively,” said Ryan Hsiao, who works in the company’s export sales, in an interview at the Plastivision trade show in Mumbai.
The company is conducting feasibility study for the proposed facility, which may be in Gujarat or Chennai.
“We would most likely prefer Gujarat, which is hub of the plastic industry in India. We are also working on investment details,” Hsiao said.
Tianan, Taiwan-based Huarong will likely finalize the India entry plan by the middle of 2014.
The project is being driven by the company’s falling sales in India.
“The weakening of the Indian rupee against the U.S. dollar hit us hard and a production facility in India would save us from the adverse impact of currency fluctuation on our shipments to India in the future,” Hsiao said.
Huarong sold around 70 injection molding machines in India in 2013 compared to almost 100 in the previous year.
The company supplies two-component injection molding machines to the automobile sector, which has been plagued by a slowdown, as well as in-mold label systems for packaging.
When the company moves ahead in India, Hsiao said initially the local plant will assemble machines ranging in size from 60-450 metric tons of clamping force. Eventually it will add machines above 500 tons.
“We have very strong relation with Indian clients, to whom we are supplying from many years. The plant will further help us to strengthen relations with the India market,” he stressed. | 
