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GE India to hire 3000 more, planning manufacturing plant in India
By Kukil Bora
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Friday, 17 September 2010, 19:08 IST
Bangalore: General Electric (GE) is planning to increase the headcount for its India Technology Centre in the next three years by adding 3000 people more to its 5,000-strong workforce. The company is also considering plans for a new manufacturing plant in India.
GE's 1.1 million square feet centre in Bangalore is the company's first and largest integrated multidisciplinary research and product development centre outside the U.S. On the occasion of celebrating its tenth anniversary, the Vice-President and Managing Director of the GE India Technology Centre, Sanjay M Correa said the company has invested $175 million for the center, which has filed over 1,000 patents so far and out of which more than 140 have been granted.
Talking about the technologies that the center is working on, Correa said, "There are various key technologies on which we are working and it will help to launch products like generators using bio-mass, high-density batteries, hybrid locomotives and thin-film solar and digital pathology in the coming months."
The Company is also planning to set up a $50 million manufacturing plant in India. The company is still to decide the location for the plant, which is likely to be finalized by the end of this year.
Emphasizing on the importance of local market, John L Flannery, the President and CEO of GE India said that the company is focusing on the needs of the local market in the areas of infrastructure and healthcare by developing local capabilities, technologies and partnerships. The key local partnerships include Wipro for healthcare services, SBI for financial services and BHEL for oil and gas services, he said.
"India is a key market for us and we'll continue to invest in it, so that the gap in the local market can be filled by developing relevant technologies and products at the right price", said GE Global Research Senior Vice-President and Director Mark M Little. The company will continue to expand its supply chain in India that will help address regional customer needs, he added.
Revealing GE's plans in the nuclear power business in India, Flannery said that as the market develops in the country, the company will start the business in India. Outside India, GE has managed to get billions of dollars of sale in the nuclear space, he added.
GE's annual research and development expenditure has touched $4.4 billion in 2009, which was $2.3 billion in 2001. The company has also doubled its investment in clean technologies from $700 million in 2005 to more than $1.5 billion in 2010. The company is also in the process of setting up a technology centre in Brazil.
