Anticipating  prospects in India, German chemical company BASF SE has started the process of constructing a new innovation campus at its existing facility in Thane, on the outskirts of Mumbai, India. The investment in this campus will be $61.8 million. The India center will hire 300 scientists to work on areas such as crop protection, process development, and polymer research. The new Mumbai campus will create opportunities for building and expanding customer relationships and scientific cooperation programs that will benefit both BASF and the India R&D community, BASF India chairman and managing director Raman Ramachandran said.

 Martin Brudermüller, vice chairman, told Plastics News: “We strongly believe that the time has come when we have to hike our presence in this market. Our business has grown to a certain level from where we think we have to give R&D support to our growing customer base and expanding operation in India.”

“The idea is to integrate our R&D set-up in India and operate from a single platform. The Thane innovation campus will be a key hub of BASF’s global research and development network and, next to Shanghai, BASF’s second major R&D location in Asia Pacific,” Brudermüller said.

Earlier, in October this year, BASF inaugurated a $160 million chemical complex in Dahej, in the state of Gujarat.