Unfazed By Euro Zone Crisis

Piramal Glass Ceylon plc, a subsidiary of Piramal Glass, Gujarat,India, has escaped the effects of the euro zone crisis because it exports to India, Australasia and Mauritius and not to the EU, its expatriate Managing Director Sanjay Tiwari told this reporter.
Sri Lanka’s biggest export market is the EU.
This Rs. 5.5 billion company operates on the basis of the 75: 25 formula as far as the local market vis-à-vis exports are concerned in volume terms, while in the case of revenue, it’s 80:20, he said. Speaking at a function at Mount Lavinia last Friday, he said that sales three years ago were a mere Rs. 1.2 billion. Export earnings amount to $ 10 million.
Successor to the former Ceylon Glass Company, the company recently commissioned a Rs. 25 million waste water treatment plant in Horana. Piramal uses some 750 cubic metres of water daily in its operations, said Tiwari.
He said that their’s is a “24×7” operation. Piramal has some 600 employees.
The company which moved out from its 21 acre factory premises in Ratmalana to Horana under the Government’s tax holiday 300 factories programme in a US$ 40 million investment five years ago, hopes to earn Rs. one billion by disposing of its Ratmalana property which is valued at Rs. 700 million, said Tiwari. The company converts 250 metric tons of glass daily into bottles and meets nearly 95% of Sri Lanka’s glass bottle requirements, Tiwari said.