Vertical Divider

Asahi Glass to Sell Glass Products in India
October 17, 2017

India is emerging as a mobile manufacturing hub and Asahi Glass Co. (ASG) is looking to tap growing demand for advanced glass products for smartphones and other electronic devices. AGC, is planning to sell its cutting-edge products to India-based manufacturers of electronic devices, the officials said. Among the products it hopes to sell are its Dragontrail glass — lightweight, flexible and scratch-resistant glass used as a protective cover for smartphones, tablet computers and ultra-books — and others used in phone cameras, the officials said. According to Hisashi Takaso, managing director of AGC Asia Pacific (India) Pvt. Ltd., AGC’s Indian unit. some local mobile phone brands such as Micromax and Intex are already using imported Dragontrail glass in their phones. During India’s Mobile Congress, the country’s first mobile, internet and technology event, Electronics and Information Technology Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad said that 100 new mobile manufacturing units have been set up in the country over the last three years. The government’s policy reforms, such as effective duties on key components along with attractive incentive structures, are some of the key factors driving up mobile manufacturing in the country. In the next five years, mobile phone components worth more than $80 billion are likely to be consumed, with more than a billion smartphones expected to be sold in India during the period, according to a joint report by the Indian Institute of Management Bangalore and market research firm Counterpoint Research issued in November last year. “If these are not sourced or manufactured locally, they will need to be imported,” said the report, which estimates that by 2020 almost 96 percent of the phones that will be sold in India will be manufactured locally.