Vaishnaw opens country’s first tempered glass factory in Noida

Union Minister for Electronics and Information Technology Ashwini Vaishnaw on Saturday inaugurated India’s first tempered glass manufacturing facility for mobile devices at Noida, marking a major milestone in domestic electronics production under the Make in India initiative.

The facility has been set up by Optiemus Electronics in collaboration with US-based Corning Incorporated and will produce high-quality tempered glass under the globally recognised “Engineered by Corning” brand. The products will cater to both Indian and international markets.

Vaishnaw said, “Tempered glass, a very important accessory for mobile phones, is now being manufactured in India using world-class technology. In the last 11 years, electronics manufacturing has grown six times to Rs 11.5 lakh crore, with exports of Rs 3.5 lakh crore. This is a testimony to the success of Make in India.”

He added that step by step, India would manufacture all key components of electronic devices, including chips, cover glass, laptops and server components. “Very soon, a Made in India chip will also be ready. A few days ago, the pilot line of a semiconductor plant was launched, and laptops and servers are also being manufactured here. India’s electronics ecosystem is developing very well,” he noted.

The minister underlined that electronics export now stand at over Rs 3 lakh crore, creating direct and indirect employment for 2.5 million people. He also highlighted India’s growing design capabilities, citing an IIT Madras-incubated startup that has designed the country’s first microcontroller, and Indian railway equipment now being exported to Europe.

Ashok Kumar Gupta, Chairman of Optiemus Infracom Limited, said, “This is a landmark moment for the Indian electronics industry. Despite being one of the world’s largest mobile phone markets, India has so far relied on imports for tempered glass. Our aspiration is that every Indian mobile phone user must use a Make in India tempered glass with BIS certification and fog marking to protect their screen.”

The domestic market for tempered glass is estimated at over 500 million pieces, valued at around Rs 20,000 crore, while the global market exceeds $60 billion.

With an initial investment of Rs 70 crore, the Noida facility will produce 25 million units annually in its first phase, employing 600 people. In the second phase, capacity will expand to 200 million units per year with an additional investment of Rs 800 crore, generating over 4,500 jobs.

Equipped with state-of-the-art infrastructure, the plant will handle all stages of manufacturing — from scribing and polishing to chemical tempering and lamination — under strict quality control, bringing world-class tempered glass to Indian consumers for the first time.