Alstom Plans To Make India Unit an Export Hub Close.

MUMBAI: Alstom Group plans to ramp up exports from its Indian manufacturing units to deal with the slowdown in the local market, the company's global chief executive said.

In the last few years, the France-based infrastructure solutions provider invested in building capability in India to cash in on the government's focus on infrastructure. But given the slowdown in the sector in the last one year due to policy delays, weak investment sentiment and fuel linkage issues, Alstom now wants to use its India base to service orders from South Asian countries and the Middle East.

"When we set up a manufacturing unit somewhere, we are focusing on the local demand. But this being said, when you set up this base, you also include it in your global footprint. We can use the factory that we are building not only to serve to Indian market but also export if it is competitive," Patrick Kron, Alstom's global chairman and chief executive, said.

India accounts for 5% in Alstom's global business. The global engineering major has two listed companies in the country -Alstom Projects India, the power and transport engineering company, and Alstom T&D India, the power transmission company acquired from Areva. It is also investing 100 million euros on power equipment joint venture with Bharat Forge.

"I have no doubt that long-term focus will remain on infrastructure and power. There are ups and downs and the speed slows in the acceleration for projects, but we have full confidence that we are well positioned to service this market and that this market will grow in medium-to-long term," Kron said, commenting on the slowdown in the Indian market.

Emerging markets such as India, China and Brazil would be the key growth driver going ahead as infrastructure projects in the developed economies have come to an almost standstill.

"We are spending more than half a billion euros per year in capital expenditure and investments, and clearly the larger share of this goes to emerging markets where we are building capacity," Kron said.

Source : economictimes.indiatimes.com