“If you think of the next decade, I think it will be the decade of India,” Bazin told ET in an exclusive interaction. “The number one criterion of growth in building materials and solutions for sustainable construction is the population growth. So of course, India with 1.4-1.5 billion population and growing 14-15 million per year is extremely important alongside the rising middle class and urbanisation.”
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The maker of glass, gypsum boards and construction chemicals said India is receiving more than twice the group’s average capital allocation relative to sales, indicating the country’s growing strategic importance within the Paris-headquartered company.
India could eventually outpace France as one of Saint-Gobain’s largest contributors to profit over the next decade, Bazin added.
Saint-Gobain, which has operated in India for more than four decades, is targeting a threefold increase in its India business over the next ten years, building on what is already its third-largest profit pool globally after the US and France.
The company is expanding its footprint across sectors including airports, metros, tunnels, railways, hospitals and data centres, while positioning itself as a supplier of energy-efficient and low-carbon building materials.Saint-Gobain, which generates close to 2 billion in annual sales in India, will use fresh investments for new factories, research and development, digital capabilities and acquisitions tied to sustainable construction materials. The company has already invested 600 million in the country over the past five years.
“We double our size in India every five years, and the goal is to triple our size in the next ten years,” Bazin said, adding it will be driven by India’s rapid urbanisation, population growth and infrastructure buildout. “When you combine all this, there will be a lot of growth in residential markets and a lot of growth also in infrastructure.”
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Its Oragadam facility near Chennai is being developed into what the company said will be Saint-Gobain’s largest industrial site globally, integrating multiple product lines under one campus. The company’s India business has consistently outpaced the broader construction market, growing more than four percentage points faster than industry averages over the past four years, the company said.
Sreedhar N, chief executive for Asia-Pacific and India at Saint-Gobain, said the company’s breadth of offerings gives it a unique advantage in the country’s fragmented construction market. “We are the only player in India who has got the complete solution you need for any construction,” he said. The company is already embedded in marquee projects, from the Pune Metro to the high-speed rail connecting Mumbai-Ahmedabad, with an upcoming project with the Bangalore airport.