China's Yingde Gases to set up Indian subsidiary NovaAir

MUMBAI: Chinese industrial gases maker Yingde Gases is setting up an Indian subsidiary, NovaAir India, with an initial investment of $60 million to build four air separation plants near Hyderabad, Chennai, Mumbai and Delhi, top company officials said.
Backed by Asia's largest alternative investment fund PAG, Yingde plans to invest more than $1 billion in India over the next five years to pursue organic and inorganic opportunities, a senior official said. It will invest $3 billion in India and China during that period.

In the shorter term, Yingde will invest another $100 million in India, officials said.

"This is a classic Make in India initiative where we are trying to build a company ground up in India and are looking at creating close to 600 direct and indirect jobs in the market," said Gajanan Nabar, chief executive at NovaAir India.

The company plans to set "industry-leading standards in safety, reliability and quality assurance, while constantly working to reduce overall costs to the consumer", Nabar told ET in an exclusive interaction.

India's industrial gases market is expected to surpass $3.9 billion in 2023, growing more than 11% a year from $2.1 billion in 2017, riding on demand from the metal industry, particularly steel, according to a 2018 industrial gases report by TechSci Research. Key players in the market include Praxair India Pvt Ltd, Linde India Ltd, INOX Air Products, and Bhuruka Gases.

Yingde has expertise in all bulk atmospheric gases-oxygen, nitrogen, and argon-as well as hydrogen and gasification technologies. It is the largest independent industrial gas supplier in China.

" We are very excited to establish NovaAir and invest in the very attractive India market," said Frank Li, CEO of Yingde Gases. "We see so many opportunities for growth here."