The glass business of the Alembic group was set as a result of historical necessity. India’s entire requirement of glass bottles was being met by imports from Europe. The Second World War caused an abrupt break in the supply chain. As a result, Alembic had no bottles to package its pharmaceutical products in and the entire pharmaceuticals business was in jeopardy.
The supply chain disruption from Europe led to experiments, within Alembic, to manufacture glass bottles in 1943. After getting it right, Alembic Glass Industries Ltd. was incorporated as a separate company in 1944. The name of the company was changed to Shreno Ltd. in 2005 to differentiate its identity from the group’s pharmaceuticals business....