Schneider plans big for India; unveils Hyd plant

Schneider Electric, a French global major in medium to low voltage electric equipment manufacturing, has said a big part of industrial investments would come to India and the Asia Pacific region as they form strong growth centres for the company.

Speaking in connection with the launch of the company's ninth global manufacturing plant in India at Hyderabad today, which was set up at an investment of Rs 100 crore in a record 14 months, Henri Lachmann, chairman, Schneider Electric, said the company was growing at 30% annually in India, much higher than any other country in Asia. Its business across the globe is growing 10% year-on-year.

"We want to produce where we sell. Once the capacity of this plant is full, we will think of setting up another plant. But I can only say that we are growing very fast here," he said.

The company has already started relocating its products to China as well as India.

"Schneider looks at India as not just a market but also as a source for its growth," Lachmann said pointing out that they have a couple of resource centres (R&D) and a software development centre in the country apart from manufacturing plants.

The chairman said from the investment point of view, all the BRIC (Brazil, Russia, India and China) countries, Eastern Europe and North America formed part of Schneider's further growth strategy, and not the Western Europe.

Responding to a question, he said the company was planning to challenge the China's ruling against the company in an alleged patent infringement case. A court in eastern China had ordered that the Tianjin-based joint venture, in which Schneider holds 75%, stop selling five models of products that are based on the technology owned by Chint Group, China's leading manufacturer of low-voltage electric apparatus. It also asked Schneider to pay 334.8 million yuan ($4.3 million).

Interestingly, while Schneider Electric's revenues in India during the last financial year stood at Rs 2,000 crore, its exports from the five plants located in Bangalore during the same period were about $950 million (about Rs 3,800 crore), according to Roshanlal Kariholoo, chief executive officer, Schneider Electric India. Ninety per cent of the products manufactured at the newly acquired ADC was exported to other countries. India is close to becoming a $2.5 billion market for electrical equipment, which is half of China, he said.

The company is also focusing on increasing its business in the integrated business management systems (IBMS), which include automation, fire and security systems, in India. It has so far done business of Rs 40 crore.