He replaces Bazmi Husain, who ABB said in September will take over as the global chief technology officer for ABB Group. Husain was leading ABB India as its managing director since 2011.
Sharma, who joined ABB in 1990, was the global managing director for ABB's low voltage systems business unit based out of Malaysia prior to the new post, a statement said. He started his career working for ABB in India and has also lived and worked in Germany and Switzerland.
"Sanjeev brings over 25 years of experience in ABB in diverse roles across various locations and functions, where he has most notably been responsible for running a successful global business units" said Frank Duggan, Chairman of the Board, ABB India Limited. "ABB in India has been steadily growing despite a challenging market environment, therefore we look forward to welcoming Sanjeev to the team where he will be responsible for driving the next level of growth for ABB in India, which is a key market and an important resource base for ABB."
“ABB has been an intrinsic part of India’s power and automation landscape with a manufacturing presence for more than half a century. Now with the exciting developments in the country be it in renewables, manufacturing in India or smart cities, ABB India is poised for many more milestones. So I am very proud to be returning to ABB in India and I am looking forward to working with our customers, employees and all of our other stakeholders to take ABB forward and to support the development in the country, especially around uncoupling growing carbon emissions from a growing economy,” Sharma said.
ABB has been invested in India for over a century and continues to maintain its long term growth outlook for the country. The power and automation major has 12 world-class manufacturing facilities and more than 9,000 employees in the country. ABB has an extensive countrywide presence with around 24 marketing offices, eight service centers and eight training centers.
India is the largest engineering design and R&D resource base for ABB Group worldwide. ABB in India has been a part of pioneering projects in power and automation including HVDC transmission, solutions for the largest blast furnace and aluminum refinery in the country or the metro projects across most cities.
About 50% of all solar power generated in India passes through ABB equipment. The company is also the first to have factories for inverters and converters for wind energy in the country.