GE, Alstom turn India into production hub

Two global giants, GE and Alstom, are increasingly using their Indian facilities to produce goods for their global markets. This is expected to add thousands of new jobs at a time when the Indian economy is in the grip of a crippling slowdown.

Two global giants, GE and Alstom, are increasingly using their Indian facilities to produce goods for their global markets. The advantage is two-fold: a cheaper rupee has made Indian goods more attractive across the world; and exporting from India helps these companies offset a dull domestic market in New Delhi.

This is expected to add thousands of new jobs at a time when the Indian economy is in the grip of a crippling slowdown. GE, which pioneered the services outsourcing model that made India a darling of investors till a few years ago, is hoping to repeat this in manufacturing.

“We will certainly leverage India as a great destination for manufacturing based on disruptive innovation.... the way forward is through a combination of exports and sizeable sales in the domestic market,” Banmali Agrawala, president and CEO of South Asia, GE told HT.

The company is investing $200 million (`1,250 crore) on setting up a new manufacturing facility in Pune that can be scaled up to manufacture a variety of products across various segments that GE is present in. The factory will start production this year.

The move by these two companies comes at a time when India is trying, with only limited success, to turn into a global manufacturing hub.

“I see the current slowdown w(in India) as a short lull,” Alstom India chief Sunand Sharma told HT in a recent interview.

Agrawala said GE sees an opportunity in hand “where India can be leveraged to be a great destination for manufacturing and sourcing.” GE wants to use its factories in India to manufacture products for the Indian market while simultaneously feeding GE’s global supply chains.