A significant stride for India’s pharmaceutical landscape has been marked with the grand opening of a cutting-edge $60 million glass tubing manufacturing facility near Hyderabad. This impressive plant, a collaborative effort between the NYSE-listed Corning and the esteemed French firm SGD Pharma, officially began production on Monday. By early 2026, the facility is anticipated to achieve an annual production capacity of 13,000 tonnes, enough to produce approximately 2.2 billion vials.
Strategically located on 11 acres in Vemula, Mahbubnagar, the plant benefits from its close proximity to SGD Pharma’s existing vials and ampoules manufacturing unit. This new venture has already created 150 direct jobs and is expected to generate numerous indirect employment opportunities. The facility’s groundbreaking ceremony took place in June 2023, with the furnace being lit earlier this month by Chief Minister A. Revanth Reddy.
The plant is designed to serve both domestic and international markets, with future expansion plans to be driven by customer demand. This includes potential integration of Corning’s innovative Velocity vial technology, which promises superior product quality, enhanced operational efficiency, and adaptability to the evolving demands of the pharmaceutical industry. Chris Hudson, V-P and General Manager of Corning Life Sciences, emphasized that “The inauguration marks a crucial milestone in addressing vital regional needs such as expanded capacity, customer proximity, and the localization of supply chains. This facility will play a pivotal role in India by accelerating the delivery of injectable treatments and fostering local pharmaceutical growth.”
The primary output of the plant will be Type I borosilicate glass tubing, an essential material for injectable drug packaging, direct injection delivery systems, diagnostics, and biologics. By co-locating tubing production with SGD Pharma’s vial converting operations, the companies anticipate achieving significant efficiencies in sustainability and overall product quality, as stated in a joint release.
Olivier Rousseau, CEO of SGD Pharma, highlighted the strategic importance of this joint investment. “This partnership for tubing, which will be converted into products right next door, makes perfect sense. We are not only securing a crucial part of our supply chain but also introducing world-class technology to one of the fastest-growing pharmaceutical markets globally,” he explained.
The joint venture encompasses two key components: the tubing facility itself and the advanced production on the Velocity line, which involves a specialized coating process at the existing SGD plant. While this new facility represents Corning’s smallest tubing plant globally in terms of capacity, it signifies a major commitment to the Indian market. Industry leaders from both companies estimate India’s annual demand for vials to be around 3-4 billion.
Sudhir Pillai, Managing Director of Corning India, concluded by affirming that this “project underscores a profound commitment to the region and our long-term vision for sustainable growth.”