West Pharmaceutical Services, Inc. of Exton announced July 16 it has opened a manufacturing plant in the Chennai, India Sri City Economic Zone to expand its growing medical packaging business.

The company’s board of directors also approved a fourth-quarter dividend of 11 cents per share, a 10 percent increase over the 10-cent share declared for the four preceding quarters.  The dividend will be paid Nov. 3 to shareholders of record as of Oct. 19.

Donald E. Morel Jr., West’s chairman and chief executive officer, said more and more pharmaceutical customers are opening plants in India.  He said the new facility will help West meet market demand as its business grows. West customers are serving a growing number of patients in India and the Asia Pacific region.

Last summer West signed a 99-year lease on 783,600 square feet of land in Sri City, chosen for its metropolitan location, good utilities, labor force, logistics and quality of life.

Construction began last August on a 164,700-square-foot facility to produce seals used in primary packaging of injectable medicines.  The company has plans to also expand production there of its elastomer component business.

“Warwick Bedwell, president of West’s pharmaceutical packaging systems division in the Asia Pacific Region, said the plant will help West get medicines to patients more efficiently, reliably and safely while managing production costs.

West has a plant in Singapore, two plants in Qingpu, China and sales offices in Australia, China, India and Singapore. West also owns 25 percent of Daikyo Seiko, Ltd. (which produces pharmaceutical packaging and medical devices) in Tokyo, Japan.

Based in Exton, West supports its customers from sales, manufacturing, customer support and research and development locations in North and South America, Europe, Asia and Australia.

Established in 1923, West’s 2013 sales totaled $1.4 billion.