H.B. Fuller Company said Monday that it has broken ground on a $12 million manufacturing facility that will support a business expansion into India.

The plant will be located near the city of Pune, which is about 62 miles south of Mumbai. It is expected to be operational by August 2011.

Vadnais Heights-based H.B. Fuller said that it has a “small but growing presence” in the $300 million to $400 million Indian adhesives market.

“India is one of the largest countries in the world with one of the fastest growing economies,” Steve Kenny, senior vice president of the company's EIMEA (Europe, India, Middle-East, and Africa) region. “As such, it represents a huge market for H.B. Fuller and our customers. This expansion reflects our commitment to the market and to our global customers, many of whom have an active presence in India.”

Kenny added that H.B. Fuller's expansion into India is part of the company's five-year strategic plan and is the latest in a series of moves that aim to drive growth.

During the past few years, H.B. Fuller has expanded its geographic presence through acquisitions in Egypt, Germany, and Malaysia. It also established a regional technology center in Shanghai, China, to serve the Asia-Pacific market and a manufacturing facility in Nanjing, China, that's focused on reactive technologies.

H.B. Fuller provides adhesives, sealants, paints, and other specialty chemical products-mostly to customers within the packaging, hygiene, paper converting, general assembly, woodworking, construction, and consumer markets. It is among Minnesota's 30-largest public companies based on its fiscal 2009 revenue of $1.23 billion.