— Dr. Joerg Strassburger,
Country Representative and Managing Director,
LANXESS India Pvt. Ltd
Dr. Joerg Strassburger
has been the Country
Representative and
Managing Director of
LANXESS India since
March 2005. He is
responsible for the
operations and
development of LANXESS'
business units in India.
Dr. Strassburger, in an
email interaction with
Jibran Buchh, talks about
the enormous potential
in India's speciality
chemical industry.
Can you share your outlook on
India's chemical sector?
In the backdrop of growth shifting
from western markets to the Asia-
Pacific and favourably growing
consumer driven industries in
India like construction, automotive,
tyre and agrochemicals,
India has the potential to build a
$80 billion to $100 billion speciality
chemical industry by 2020.
India holds a lot of promise for
the chemical industry but not
without some corrections that are
imperative for its sustained
growth. The challenges lie in
the areas of infrastructure, manpower
and support from the
administration. The availability
of continuous power supply, availability
of natural gas, connections
to common sewage and effluent
treatment plants from the sites,
good connectivity to major industrial
clusters by highways, ports
and airports are some of the
quintessential infrastructure
requirements that the industry
presently has.
Since there are very few sustainable
chemical parks in India,
availability of land is scarce for
companies to set up plants. On the
raw materials front, higher cost
and non-availability of feedstock
is often a handicap for scaling up
manufacturing operations. The
potential of the Indian chemical
industry can be leveraged if the
concerns are addressed.
Wastewater treatment is also in
great demand in the Indian subcontinent.
Tell us about your
company's role in this segment ?
Wastewater treatment by industries
is gaining momentum in
India and the segment is an
important area of business for us.
Environmental norms and their
compliance are getting more
stringent so industries will now be
forced to opt for waste water treatment.
Removal of contaminants
from water discharged by the
industries will therefore be an
important area of application for
LANXESS.
Our solutions can help industries
achieve zero discharge. For
example, Lewatit ion exchange
resins can be used to recover valuable
metals from wastewater. Not
only does it make water more
usable, but the metals, when
recovered, can offer an alternate
revenue stream to industries.
Other applications of Lewatit ion
exchange resins include removal
of arsenic and fluoride from water.
This is applicable to both industrial
as well as potable water.
Large parts of India do not have
access to clean water. Is it possible
to make water accessible
through new and innovative
chemical technology?
Yes, processing of wastewater by
industries, raw water from natural
water sources and recycling water
can improve the availability and
management of drinking water.
As we understand, parts of Indian
population still do not have access
to clean drinking water and the
growth in population will only
intensify this need. This will open
up huge opportunities in the areas
of both raw water and wastewater
treatment.
An important application in this
segment is the food processing
industry. With increased urbanisation
and increase in disposable
income, people are opting for
packaged foods. The food processing
industry which manufactures
packaged foods requires
high volumes of clean water. This
industry is still in its early stages in
India and is likely to grow further.
Food processing requires a lot of
water in different stages and
there's hardly a step which it does
not require water treated by ion
exchange resins.
What are your company's investment
plans in India?
LANXESS has invested around
€180 million in India. We now
have manufacturing facilities for
five business units at our site in
Jhagadia in Gujarat and one in
Nagda in Madhya Pradesh. We
aim at growing our business and
consolidating our position in
the Indian market. The manufacturing
base in India is a part of our
global production network and it
serves the fast growing Indian
industries as well as exports to
various markets worldwide.
What would LANXESS to
achieve during your tenure?
LANXESS wants to be seen as
the technology leader in all its
businesses. In terms of growth,
we have set ourselves a target
of €1.4 billion EBIDTA globally
by 2015. We are expanding
our presence and capacity in
growth markets to meet global
demand, no matter where it may
be. We focus on delivering market-
oriented premium products
that give our customers a competitive
advantage. This flexibility
and global reach makes
LANXESS a preferred industrial
partner in the world's fastest growing
markets.