November 9: Ball Corporation is planning to invest in a beverage can plant in India.
It will be built by subsidiary Ball Packaging Europe (BPE) which expects to locate plant at Aurangabad in the state of Maharashtra, to supply the two-piece beverage can needs for the majority of existing and currently-planned domestic can filling lines.
The plant will be the second of its type in the sub-continent, following the completion of a facility near Mumbai in 2006 by Hindustan Tin Works Ltd which later became a part of a joint venture set up by Rexam. Local demand is thought to be small, about 800 million cans a year, but growing.
In a release issued yesterday from its headquarters at Ratingen in Germany, BPE said application procedures with the proper governmental agencies are in the process of being completed. The first commercial cans are expected to be produced by mid-2009.
