Just two day after US President Barack Obama proposed new measures to scrap tax incentives to US firms for overseas operations, Honeywell, a US-headquartered technology and manufacturing firm with operations in 100 countries, has inaugurated its largest office space (690,000 sq ft ) in Bangalore.
The facility, set up with an investment of $50 million, would be the company’s second R&D centre in Bangalore, with accommodation for 3,000 engineers, Dave Cote, chairman and CEO of Honeywell said.
Cote added India had played a major role in providing innovative ideas to the company across its four major business lines. “Our experience in India has been terrific, and we are committed for the country, and we expect to grow a lot more growth here,” he added. Honeywell's presence in India has grown significantly from about 1,000 employees in 2002 to about 11,000 people today.
On being asked about his opinion on the latest proposals, Cote said any discussion on ‘protectionism’ was is “extremely worrisome and extremely harmful. I get extremely worried when I hear any kind of discussion on protectionism — in India, In China, in the US and in Europe. I do know that anything that creates any kind of protectionism and stops globalisation activities will be harmful to standards of living around the world,” Cote said.
Honeywell derives around 50 per cent of its global revenues from outside the US. The company’s revenues from India have grown from about $50 million to about $600 million until 2008. The company expected ‘slight growth’ in 2009 over the previous year, Cote said. “I would say one of the things we do in the company is work to further globalise our capability. We would not have been able to achieve the kind of growth outside the US, if we had not established the kind of capability we have here,” he said.
The company has a collaboration with the state-owned Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd to produce aircraft engine in India.
