AkzoNobel's ambition to accelerate growth and increase revenue in India to €1 billion within the next five years has been underlined today by the official opening of a new Industrial Coatings plant near Bangalore.

The facility - which will produce coil and specialty plastic coatings - is located in Hoskote on an existing AkzoNobel site which already manufactures marine and protective coatings, automotive coatings and powder coatings.

"India will develop into one of the world's economic powerhouses and it ranks very highly on our list of priority high growth countries," said Leif Darner, the AkzoNobel Board member responsible for Performance Coatings.

"We are already well represented in India, but as the largest global producer of coatings, we are committed to making a significant contribution to the country's continued development."

Conrad Keijzer, Managing Director of AkzoNobel Industrial Coatings added: "Increasing our capacity in India is important because local demand is growing. This is being driven by a number of factors, particularly the rapid increase in average household incomes and the associated growth of the housing, construction, consumer electronics and automotive sectors."

The technologies most in demand include laser-etch coatings for the automotive industry, soft-touch technology for smart phones and coil coatings for high performance steel and aluminum construction markets.

The new Bangalore facility will be capable of manufacturing up to 18 million liters per year, with scope for further expansion. The additional capacity will also boost the company's ability to meet the growing demand in India and neighboring countries.

AkzoNobel currently employs around 1,500 people in India and operates six production facilities, two research laboratories and around a dozen sales locations, representing activities from across all Coatings and Specialty Chemicals businesses.