The glass fibre reinforcements manufacturer, which was approached by the Binani group, has said that "it is not interested at present" to acquire the 8,000 tonne division. The glass fibre division has instead been hived off into a wholly-owned subsidiary of Binani Industries, the group flagship.

"We had been approached by merchant bankers of Binani Industries for sale of the glass fibre business. We told them that we are not interested at present," said a top Owens Corning India official.

"Our hands are full at the moment with a capacity of 30,000 tonnes at the Taloja unit, of which 75 per cent would be exported. At this juncture, there is no reason for us to buy out the glass fibre division of the Binanis," the official said.

A Binani group spokesperson declined to comment on the issue."We want to concentrate on our core strengths and the glass fibre division is being hived off into a subsidiary, as part of the restructuring plan," the spokesperson said.

The fibre glass division, which had some teething problems to start with, has been technologically updated by increasing the installed capacity to 8,000 tpa from 6,000 tpa.

Owens Corning (India), in which the $5 billion US giant holds a 50 per cent stake, has recently commissioned its greenfield facility at Taloja to manufacture glass fibre reinforcements. The company hopes to generate revenues of around $55 million in the first year itself. The facility has been set up with a total investment of $110 million.

In fact, India figures prominently in Owens Corning's global plans. "The Indian plant is one of the two manufacturing facilities in Asia where the company has made major investments, with the other being in Korea," Owens Corning (India) chairman and CEO Glen H Hiner said at a press conference on Thursday.

"The way to grow themarket and build our position in India is two pronged: local development and development of infrastructure," said Hiner. As part of its efforts to develop the Indian market, the company has set up a market development centre in Bangalore. The Indian market, currently estimated at around 10,000 tonne, is expected to grow at 20-30 per cent per annum.

The Taloja project, which has an initial capacity of 30,000 tonne per annum, is expected to achieve 90 per cent capacity utilisation by May next year. "There is an inbuilt option to double the capacity depending on the demand growth," Hiner said.

Composites, a $4 billion business for Owens Corning globally, are replacements used for traditional materials like steel and aluminium and used in industries like telecom, automotive and infrastructure-related areas.