Volvo sees India as Asia sourcing hub

Volvo India, subsidiary of the Swedish commercial vehicle major AB Volvo, is looking at developing its facility as a sourcing hub for other Asian regions.

The company, which began exporting locally assembled buses to South Asian Association for Regional Co-operation (Saarc) region, starting with Bangladesh in 2003, has now decided to tread other Asian countries using its plant near Bangalore. Volvo has also replaced Singapore with India as its Saarc region headquarters.

"Volvo in India is responsible for Saarc region and, hence, a manufacturing hub for the region. We are also closely studying opportunities in Asia following the upcoming free trade agreements We see good possibilities," said Ulf Nordqvist, managing director, Volvo India.

An industry source also said the company will commence exports to another Asian country soon.

However Volvo, which uses India as a sourcing hub for auto components, has ruled out the possibility of using India as an assembling unit for its non-Asian markets.

In Asia, Volvo manufactures vehicles in China, while it assembles them in India, Malaysia and Thailand.

Volvo India is set to manufacture 1,000 units in calendar 2004, a 43 per cent growth over its production in 2003. The company's turnover grew 27 per cent from Rs 281 crore in 2002 to Rs 356 crore in 2003.