In India Iwatani has established its first locally registered branch in that country called Iwatani India. The new company began sales activities on July 1.

? Regarding the Indian market which boast an annual GDP growth of 7-9%, in April of 2008 Iwatani established an office in Delhi with personnel from Japan stationed there. This office has been conducting market research. It was just recently that they decided to go ahead and established a locally registered company there with the purpose of expanding business in India.

The new company is capitalized at INR 45 million, with the Iwatani Group putting up the entire amount. The above mentioned Delhi office, located in the vicinity of Gurgaon, will be used for this company. The main products handled will be mineral products, including silicon dioxide which is the raw material for the sealant for semiconductors. Along with this the new company will also be dealing in specialty functional dye, presses for use in metal finishing, chemicals which are resin coatings, and metals. The company will be expanding sales for use in the automotive and home appliance sectors. It will start off with its chemical materials business but it is now considering what to do regarding industrial gas. In fact, included among the Japanese staff are people from the industrial gas department.

Iwatani plans to obtain helium from Qatar in the Middle East starting in the summer of 2013. As a market coming after those in China and Southeast Asia, it is definitely expected that in India Iwatani will be striving to expand its gas business, with helium as the core.