The upcoming crash safety norms in India will present a big business opportunity for Henkel India’s automotive adhesive business as the company is looking to capitalise by working closely with OEMs to help them meet the new safety standards.

“It will be a big opportunity for automotive companies in India as they would want their designs to compete and perform at par with global standards and not just Indian standards. Where Henkel comes in here is that we are able to facilitate this without the manufacturers adding a lot of weight to their cars,” Pradhyumna Ingle, Business Director, General Industry, Henkel India, told Autocar Professional in Mumbai today.

“I believe that the new norms would present us with an opportunity to further grow our adhesive business. Henkel can partner with automotive OEMs even more closely now to develop these solutions,” believes Ingle.

India is set to adopt the new mandatory crash test norms under the label of Bharat NCAP, which will kick in from next year. Under the fresh norms proposed to be implemented initially on voluntary basis, car manufacturers would rate the safety performance of their vehicles on parameters such as offset frontal crash, slide impact crash, child safety requirements and pedestrian safety requirements along with several others.

According to Ingle, Indian OEMs have already started enhancing the safety features of their vehicles in India and Henkel is actively participating with various manufacturers to develop cost-effective solutions for them to meet these upcoming norms.

Automotive adhesives business

Henkel India is a supplier of various technologies such as environment-friendly, anti-corrosion coatings to crash-absorbing structural adhesives to various automotive OEMs operating in India.

The automotive adhesive business comprises of roughly 20% of the total adhesive business worldwide for Henkel and has been constantly growing.

The company has garnered large market shares over the last five years from OEMs in various mature markets such as Europe, North America and Japan.

According to Jerry Perkins, Global Head of General Industry Adhesives, Henkel Group, the automotive business has tremendous potential and Henkel is focused on growing it even further.

“You look at the penetration of cars in developing markets and there is still a lot of scope for growth. Today, most of the OEMs are working on the next generation of platforms which will come in the market in two to three years down the line and we are providing solutions to develop these platforms. It is quite challenging for many suppliers to work on global platforms but it is right up Henkel’s alley and has helped us gain more business,” he said.

Perkins believes that India is a top priority market for auto adhesives and as a result the company has invested heavily in setting up the country’s largest adhesives plant near Pune. 

The Kurkumbh plant, which will be Henkel’s 10th manufacturing unit in India, will have an operational area of about 20,000 square metres and an annual capacity expected to be 80,000 metric tonnes of adhesives and surface treatments. The plant is primarily designed to supply to the Indian market and there will be limited exports taking place as well.

The company is planning to commence production at the new plant by mid-2017, concluded Perkins.