By Dipankar De Sarkar, IANS
London : In a textbook example of globalisation in action, soaring demand in India has helped a British multinational company make a stunning gift of a thousand pound (nearly $2,000) bonus for each of its Britain-based employees.
The Christmas bonus for the entire workforce of digger makers JCB was one of the big financial stories of the festive season in Britain, and now one of its senior executives confirmed just before flying to New Delhi that India had everything to do with it.
“The connection is straightforward: our largest sales last year was in India, wasn’t it,” JCB Global Director Philip Bouverat told IANS on the sidelines of an India investors’ gathering.
Bouverat is among a planeload of British executives representing 60 companies arriving in New Delhi Monday – part of an investment delegation being led by Trade and Investment Minister Lord Digby Jones.
JCB, which makes heavy-duty construction equipment, counts India as among its more eye-popping success stories. In 2006, JCB India became the first construction equipment manufacturer in India to sell more than 50,000 machines – the final figure was well in excess, at 56,000.
And sales in 2007 are likely to hit 70,000 – “a phenomenal growth,” enthused Bouverat.
All 5,500 staff at the Staffordshire-based manufacturer got a 1,000 pound windfall after global sales topped £2 billion for the first time this year, largely on account of the demand in India, where the construction industry is enjoying an unprecedented boom on account of demand in infrastructure.
Turnover is up from the previous record of £1.75 billion in 2006.
“Every time a port, or an airport or a road is built, you need an excavator, and guess who makes the best excavators? It’s JCB,” Lord Digby Jones told IANS before flying out to India.
JCB Chairman Sir Anthony Bamford, son of founder Joseph Cyril Bamford, said: “We have always rewarded our people when the company has done well.”
“What’s extraordinary about this year is that we have set new records for sales and production which makes 2007 our best ever year. This really is something to celebrate and I thank everyone involved in this superb effort,” he added.
India is JCB’s largest market and the company has three major plants there – one in Ballabhgarh, Haryana and two in Pune, Maharashtra. Together they sell one in every two constructions machines sold in India.
At the London investors’ meeting, Sukanya Badri of the Bangalore-based Feedback Business Consulting Services said India will need investments worth 170 to 185 million pounds across the entire infrastructure sector in the next five years.
The textbook version of globalisation – often derided by opponents – holds that free trade and economic reforms can benefit workers all over the world.
India’s demand has translated into hard cash not only for JCB workers in India, but also their counterparts in Britain.
As John Hepden, 41, of Tean in Staffordshire, who has worked at JCB for 15 years, said: “The bonus makes it a really special Christmas.”