By Dave Hannon

There was a common thread coming from reports out of the Credit Suisse Chemical Conference: new capacity additions in India.

Hercules said it plans to expand its manufacturing capacity India as well as Brazil. According to a Reuters report, Hercules CEO Craig Rogerson said that while its current capacity additions in Asia focus on China, Hercules is “looking very seriously at India as probably the next phase for some of the new plant construction." That would probably expand its Aqualon business, which makes cellulose ethers used in paint thickeners, coatings for the pharmaceutical industry, and other applications.

Hercules expects its hydroxyethylcellulose, or HEC, plant in Nanjing, China, to be ready by late 2008 or early 2009.

Industrial gas supplier Air Products said it looks to expand on its current leading position in the South Korean and Taiwanese markets, but is also looking at the Indian market, where the company has a joint venture, for expansion.

“What we would do in India is probably someday when our partner decides, we would buy him out," said CFO Paul Huck, adding that the company is unlikely to build a wholly new operation in India from scratch.

Executives from Monsanto and Ashland said India is a target region for their firms in presentations at the conference as well. Earlier this month, Monsanto’s chief technology officer Robb Fraley told the Financial Times he expects the company’s fiercest rivals to come from India because “They are putting in massive research and development investment.”