Also, download this story from the electronic issue here

Against the backdrop of a growing plastics sector in India, three years ago, Germany-headquartered thermoplastic elastomer (TPE) maker Kraiburg set up a head office and warehouse in Bangalore, as well as three sales contact points in Pune, to cover the West Indian region; and Delhi and Chennai to cover the North Indian and South Indian regions, respectively. It has already won half the battle of an uphill task of educating the Indian market of TPEs, said Addy Purandare, Director of Kraiburg India.

The automotive market is a forerunner for TPEs, especially for interior and exterior components, said Addy. “Kraiburg is strong in soft TPEs for interiors and window seals. In Germany, window profiles are made of TPEs but in India they are still made of PVC. So we are making a concerted effort to change the market to a more environmentally friendly material.“ Addy is of the opinion that with growing consumer affluence, environmental consciousness will follow.

He also explained that Kraiburg increased its market share in the automotive sector, even though the market shrank last year. Kraiburg also serves other sectors such as multi-component moulding and insert moulding TPEs for a wide range of engineering thermoplastics such as PC, PC/ABS, POM, PA6 and PBT.

This year, Addy is looking forward to sales growth to more than double, and for this reason is adding on more human resources to support the expected growth.

A moulder won‘t buy a material just like that. We need local influence. The strength of a company should be to have a local approach with an international mentality. Kraiburg is able to offer this advantage,“ concluded Addy.

Kraiburg has production sites in Germany, the US and Malaysia.