By IANS
Bangalore : Asea Brown Boveri (ABB), the $24-billion Swiss major in power and automation technologies, Monday announced here it would invest $100 million (Rs.3.95 billion) in India over the next three years to set up new plants and expand existing facilities.
“The fresh investment is in addition to the $100-million we have invested over the last two-three years to scale up our operations in India, including capacity expansion to meet the growing demands of the industry verticals we serve,” ABB chairman Hubertuns von Grunberg told reporters.
Betting on India growth story, Grunberg said the Indian subsidiary would increase its employee strength to 10,000 by 2010 from about 6,000 at present.
It would surpass the headcount in Switzerland and Sweden, where it employs about 6,000 and 8,000 people, respectively, he said.
“As India is among the fastest growing economies in the world, we expect our business volume to double by 2010 from Rs.43 billion posted in 2006 calendar year. India operations will soon be among the top five markets for us,” Grunberg affirmed.
As part of its expansion plans, ABB India will set up a greenfield facility on the outskirts of Bangalore to manufacture low-voltage products and power electronics. Similarly, new units will be set up at Vadodara in Gujarat for rolling out small power transformers and distribution automation products.
“Half of the new investment will be made in setting up new facilities and the rest in production capacity and range expansion for manufacturing high-voltage breakers, instrument transformers and high tension machines. We also plan to manufacture 765KV equipment to meet the growing power infrastructure needs of India,” ABB president and CEO Fred Kindle disclosed.
Besides manufacturing and assembling plants at Bangalore in Karnataka, Faridabad in Haryana, Halol and Vadodara in Gujarat, Nashik and Mumbai in Maharashtra, and Haridwar in Uttarakhand, the company has an engineering centre and a research and development facility in Bangalore.
A second engineering centre has been unveiled in Chennai this year to support power systems and process automation projects worldwide. The company plans to double the headcount at both centres from the current 350 engineers.
For the third quarter of July-Sep of this fiscal, the Indian subsidiary posted net profit of Rs.1.12 billion, registering 41 percent growth over the corresponding period last year.
“The Indian economy continues to surge ahead with investments in power sector and industrial growth gathering momentum. Our order book is getting stronger, helped by core business growth and new revenue streams. The market outlook is positive,” ABB India managing director Biplab Mazumdar added.