The newly commissioned French multinational Imerys’ Vizag plant is aggressively gearing up to cater to the country’s mammoth construction chemicals business.

As per industry estimates India is touted to have a national Infrastructure pipeline of a whopping USD 1.4 trillion and is slated to become the 3rd largest construction industry in the world by 2025.

It’s thus no surprise that with these numbers in mind Imerys is keenly looking at expanding its construction business vertical here.

The Imerys plant in Vizag had in October last year celebrated the 1 year completion of its state-of-the-art green field facility in Atchutapuram.

The facility armed with a total capacity of 30,000 tonnes operates across 3 verticals i.e. Raw materials for refractories, raw materials for construction and raw materials for the abrasive segment.

Along with the other two verticals the raw materials for construction vertical is a segment that Imerys wants to be an unmatched leader in.

Although the speciality binders market in India is said to be roughly about 6000 tonnes of which 95% is imported it is a market that is fast surging in size keeping in mind the stupendous growth in the construction industry.

But due to lack of technology and lack of product availability Indian manufacturing of speciality binders hadn’t taken off.

This is exactly where Imerys is looking to make a mark.

‘With our technology prowess and our global success in this business we are bringing our best technology to India.

We want to expand the market here by leveraging our technology know-how and catering to our clients needs in the construction chemicals business’ said Mr Jerome De Lievre, VP, Building & Infrastructure refractory, abrasives & construction, Imerys speaking exclusively to Vizag Industrial Scan.

Most of Imerys top global clients are already present in India and hence it will be supplying to them in addition to some of the leading domestic construction chemical manufacturers.

‘We are probably one of the first ones to bring in true innovation in speciality binders in India for construction applications’ said Mr Segi Idicula, Managing Director, Imerys Vizag.

Research & Development is another area where Imerys boasts of having a hawk eye focus on and is constantly exploring products that are sustainable. ‘Sustainable construction is part of our endeavour’ said Mr Jerome.

The VP, Building & Infrastructure refractory, abrasives & construction also informed that the company has infrastructure solutions for clients in ready to use products for infra repairs. Some of the examples include airport runway repairs, dam repairs etc.