MUMBAI—Dow Polyurethanes' strategy in India, Middle East and Africa is to move further up the value chain, according to Shanmugananth Muthupandian.
Muthupandian is commercial director of polyurethane for Dow Chemical International. He was speaking at the recent PU Innovation Day held in Mumbai.
The company, he said, will examine with investments in systems houses in the country, Middle East and Africa.
Dow has ramped-up its investment in India in recent months. Earlier this year, Dow Polyurethanes opened a second systems house in the Lote Parshuram industrial area in Ratnagiri Maharashtra. Its target markets are consumer durables, infrastructure and automotive.
Muthupandian declined to share capacity details of the Ratnagiri unit, but said it's a modular site and further capacity could be added quickly.
Dow India also opened a Technology Center (DITC) in Navi Mumbai this year. This has a dedicated lab for polyurethane application development.
"Previously, the focus was on building capacities for products like MDI & polyols," Muthupandian said, "but now emphasis is on moving a one step ahead in value chain. The approach is on understanding the customer requirements and designing customer centric products."
Opportunities outside India also interest the polyurethanes business unit. It has plans to open more systems houses in the next five years.
"We are considering opening more system houses in the MENA region (Middle East & North Africa) in the next five years to meet market requirements of the market," Muthupandian said.
This expansion is in addition to more than 20 production, technical and development sites spread across the region.