A couple of months before India went to the polls, Japan’s Mitsubishi decided name Makoto Kitai, who has been looking after the Asia operations of Mitsubishi Electric’s global strategic planning & marketing group for quite a few years, as managing director of its Indian subsidiary.
Kitai came with an agenda — trebling Mitsubishi Electric India’s revenue by 2015, against $250 million in 2009. He said he saw India emerging as one of the top five revenue contributors to Mitsubishi Electric Corporation through the next 10 years.
Mitsubishi Electric was among the first batch of Japanese companies to enter India in the late 50s; however, the company failed to see the expected traction. In 2010, it set up wholly-owned subsidiary Mitsubishi Electric India.