NEW DELHI: "We are targeting to double the company sales in three years in the country," Charles Holliday, chairman and chief executive officer of DuPont, told a business meet organised by the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FICCI) here. "In India, the company has been growing at an average of 15 percent a year in the last five years. We have set ourselves a mission to achieve 15 billion in sales by 2005," he said. "But this is not good enough, not for a country of more than one billion people and with such vast potential." Holliday, however, added that the expansion plans of the company would depend on the growth of the Indian economy and the overall business opportunities in the country. "DuPont and many other global companies are focusing on emerging economies to drive our worldwide growth, and India is key to this plan. In India, we have set up world-class manufacturing facilities. "We are set for a take-off in this country and we look towards the government to continue to create the right business environment," he added. DuPont India, the local arm of the U.S.-based company, markets a wide range of products in a host of industrial sectors including food and nutrition, healthcare, apparel, home and construction, electronics and transportation. The company has five manufacturing facilities in three locations in India - Savli in Gujarat, Madurai in Tamil Nadu and Hyderabad. It is currently in the process of setting up the sixth facility in Gujarat. DuPont currently employs about 600 people in India. Holliday said the number would be significantly enhanced in a phased manner over the next few years. He declined to disclose the investment earmarked for the expansion plans. The research and development activities of DuPont in India includes a centre to conduct field trials for crop protection products and another one to develop hybrids relevant to different crops in India. It also has research and development agreements with several premier Indian scientific institutions such as the Centre for Scientific and Industrial Research, Indian Institute of Technology and Indian Institute of Science. Holliday said DuPont has identified India as one of the potential "low-cost high quality" sourcing bases in Asia with a $100 million sourcing potential. "We are exploring the sectors of speciality chemicals, engineering equipment and engineering design services. We have also identified India as one of our sources for enterprise resource planning and other application support projects. "We have entered into strategic alliances with Satyam Computer and Accenture to provide support to the DuPont global network in these areas," he said. The official said the company's growth focus in India is on the agriculture, nutrition platform and the business of engineering polymers.
Source: IANS