South Korean industrial conglomerate Hyosung’s spandex plant in India went into commercial operation Friday, the firm said Monday.

The plant, near Aurangabad Industrial City on a site that covers about 400,000 square meters, is capable of producing 18,000 tons of spandex per year. 

Hyosung, which entered India in 2007, generates more than $300 million in annual sales there. The company established an ultra-high-voltage breaker production plant in Pune in 2016.

CEO Cho Hyun-joon said, “We will actively target India, a huge consumer market of 1.3 billion population, to promote mutual growth.”

India is the world’s second-most-populous country, right after China, with about 1.3 billion people. Its gross domestic product is about $2.7 trillion, making it the seventh-largest economy in the world.

Hyosung will use the new plant as a cornerstone for the domestic market in India, hoping to raise its market share to 70 percent from the current 60 percent. 

By Shin Ji-hye (shinjh@heraldcorp.com)