Praxair to invest Rs 1,200 cr in India; make Bangalore hub for global pharma industry

US-based industrial gas company Praxair plans to invest about Rs 1,200 crore over the next two years in its Indian operations. It has also set up a new research and development lab here.

Mr Raymond P. Roberge, Senior Vice-President and Chief Technology Officer, Praxair, Inc, told Business Line that the new lab has been set up to for various customer industries, such as metal fabrication, steel and water treatment. The new lab will also act as a global hub for offerings for the pharma industry.

Praxair has about six labs across countries. It invests about $90 million in its labs, of which about 15 per cent goes to Asian labs.

The $10-billion company produces, sells and distributes atmospheric, process and speciality gases, and high-performance surface coatings.

Mr Roberge said he believes water-treatment plants as well as healthcare have long-term potential for the company. “Healthcare is growing globally and is about 10 per cent of total business, though in India it is much less. But we expect it to grow [in the] long term,” he said. He pointed out that business from the Asian region outperformed that from rest of the world, while India too has performed extremely well.

Praxair is also investing about Rs 1,200 crore during the next two years on its existing and new projects, which include an ongoing facility to supply gaseous hydrogen and nitrogen to Indian Oil Corporation in Orissa and two major air-separation plants for Steel Authority of India Ltd (SAIL) at Bhilai.

Praxair has already invested over Rs 2,900 crore in India for its projects in India, including air-separation plants for Tata Steel, JSW Steel, SAIL and Saint-Gobain Glass.

Mr Roberge said Praxair also works with companies developing fuel-cell technology and converting biomass into fuels.

The company gets a large percentage of its revenues from on-site projects — the contracts are usually long-term. The next big revenue earner is the merchant market (excess gas generated by a plant are liquefied and transported to customers' sites), followed by packaged gas for small-scale industries.