Chicago-based BioWish Tech plans plants in Guj, Maharashtra

Chicago-based BioWish Technologies Inc is seeking Indian joint venture partners for its wastewater treatment business and has planned over US 25 million investment for setting up two manufacturing plants in Gujarat and Maharashtra.

The plants would produce BioWish-Aqua, a composite biocatalyst consisting of enzymes, microorganisms, and non- enzymatic co-factors for wastewater treatment in the two states. This was stated by Klaus Voss, Managing Director of BW-Indah, BioWish Tech's Company registered in India and managing operations from Pune. The two plants were expected to commence production by 2015, said Voss, adding BW-Indah has already started discussions on the investment proposal with the state governments.

The company has already put on trial BioWish-Aqua on 30 wastewater treatment projects over the past year, he said. "India is going to be one of the biggest markets for us and we expect to grow our business to USD 250 million in five years from about USD 10 million this year," Voss said.

He was speaking on the sidelines of the Skybridge Alternatives Conference, a global economic leader meeting of over 1000 delegates being held in Singapore 17-19 October. Voss estimated Indian wastewater treatment market at between USD 750 million and USD 1 billion a year, using the cost effective BioWish-Aqua products and not counting the high-cost wastewater treatment plants.

He underlined the importance of a local business partner to expand across India with investment in future manufacturing plants at Delhi, Bangalore and Kolkata.