NEW DELHI: Top American specialty glass and technology company Corning is expanding its business in India as it ties up with local contract manufacturer Optiemus through a trademark and licensing agreement for screen protectors.The company is also close to starting production of finished cover glass for smartphones in India in a Rs 1,000-crore JV also with Optiemus. The factory is likely to begin production in Dec this year. This will be the first time it will directly supply finished cover glass from India rather than importing it. The customers for the cover glass are likely to include companies, such as Apple, Samsung, and the Chinese makers, who account for a majority of smartphone sales in the country.Ashok Gupta, chairman of Optiemus Infra, said the company will import glass sheets into India for tempered glass and these will be sold in the country under the Rhinotech brand after processing as per Corning’s techniques and mandates. The domestic market for tempered glass screen protectors is expected to see annual sales of 400 million pieces this year with an estimated retail value of Rs 20,000 crore. Most of these are currently sold through the unorganised sector after imports from China and Vietnam.Sudhir Pillai, MD of Corning in India, said the screen protectors will carry the ‘Engineered by Corning’ trademark. “We believe that this development will support India’s growing need for providing screen protectors for the mobile consumer electronics industry.”Sources said govt is concerned over import of “low quality but high revenue” tempered glass into India. “BIS standards for setting quality standards for screen protectors have been announced and will need to be implemented over next few months. This will lead to higher production of tempered glass in India, which is critical as its volumes and turnover have been going up each year,” a senior official at IT ministry said.