Saint-Gobain India Private Limited - Glass Business’ Post

Transcript

Saint Gobain, a French company plans to establish a glass manufacturing unit in Kancheepuram district investing rupees 3400 crores creating 1140 jobs. I request Mr. B Santhanam, CEO to please step forward. Mr. Unnikrishnan, MD, Mr. Venkatasubramanian, MD, JP Insulation, Mr. Hari Singh asks the CFO, Indian Region to join us on stage. Honorable Chief Minister. Honorable Minister for Industries. Chief Secretary. And senior government officials, it's an absolute honor and a privilege to be able to speak on this important occasion. Honorable Chief Minister 24 years ago almost to this date. The then Chief Minister, Honourable Kalinger Argar inaugurated office factory. It was a mere 525 crore investment. Today, in the last two decades plus, we've invested 10X that. And I'm eleven months ago you were kind enough to meet our global board, who came for the first time to India in 360 years. And you convinced along with their officials, convinced them to invest and we signed an MO U for 3400 crores. I'm extremely happy to state that out of the 3400 crores, 800 crows. Of projects is an advanced stage of completion. It was just eleven months ago and that's industries minister. You talked about speed of Tamil Nadu. The support that we get from the group is extraordinary. And today we are laying the foundation for a new site at Oragadam for 2500 crores worth of additional investment and we believe that site has got the potential for. Another 2500 cruiser investments. So we're extremely happy why are companies which is a 360 year old company that Sango ban why it's a serious company and a serial investor in Tamil Nadu. I think over 60% of the investment that we have made in India is in Tamil Nadu. Why do we keep coming to Tamil Nadu and why do we look at that? I just look at it as five simple factors and I'm sure that the fellow investors who here will know that firstly we come here for the people I don't think. And it's not a statement. And I'm representing Asia Pacific in Zynga. I don't think you will find more competent, more committed people than anywhere else. And from Tamil Nadu, I think this is this is the first and the foremost thing and I think it's been nurtured. There's very high education standards, skilling and everything. The second thing is that which we all worry about is productivity. I think it's not something which people talk too much about it and when you're looking at investment. This is the state where manufacturing and construction industry productivity is very high. This is a very solid ecosystem that supports their productivity. And there is and also today we are talking about, I think the industries minister talked about sustainability. If you want sustainable manufacturing anywhere in this part of the world, you have to come to Tamil Nadu. One, your power is already 50% green in Tamil Nadu and you get a power from the state grid, it's 50% green almost. And then in our own case, by 2026, we will be 75% renewable energy from solar, wind and power. And that's possible for a power intensive industry like us. So that's a very important part. And deep cost factors in Tamil Nadu are low Tamil Nadus and intensely free market and competitive state. So this is another important factor that you remember. The third one is the processes and I think the third P, the processes that are there, particularly Tamil Nadu guidance supported by SIPCOT, its transparent, predictable, you know what you will get, you know when you will get. And this is something which is not often the case. And I can tell you that I I have investments in several Asian countries. I don't see this level of predictable process that we see in Tamil Nadu. And the last is when you invest in Tamil Nadu. You actually become a partner in Tamil Nadu. The people of Tamil Nadu, the garment of Tamil Nadu, the senior government officials, they actually treat you as a partner. And that's a huge and a partner in prosperity. And that's a huge thing. And I can give a solution and they bring a solution mindset to the problems. We had a challenge because when we announced the investment 11 months ago. The site that we wanted was very clearly an ECZ site. The Tamil Nadu government worked tirelessly through SIPCOT and the guidance and they converted their CZ to a regular industrial investment zone and handed over that in record time. And today we're beginning that investment. That's why we have the inauguration. There is a solution mindset. There is a very clear escalation and you get all of these things done. So that's really the partnership mindset. And the last we keep investing. Because the performance of our businesses which are located out of Tamil Nadu are amongst the best in the world. So whether you had people, productivity processes, transparent processes, a partnership mindset or for that matter, the performance of the business because at the end of the day, we keep coming back for investment with the performance is not good. Now going to invest all of these five piece Tamil Nadu is beautifully aligned. So my only request for the investors here, stay invested. If this is the first time you're doing it, you're going to be a serial. Invested like this and the serious investor, I do wish you the very best for the investment. That 70,000 crores is just the tip of the iceberg of what Tamil Nadu can do for all of you. Thank you Nandri Vanakkam. Thank you, Sir.