Steven B Berglund, President and Chief Executive Officer, Trimble Navigation is optimistic about the company´s future growth in India. He says that the company is focussing more attention on Indian operations as the country may represent the largest geographical opportunity available.
What opportunities do you envisage for the Indian construction industry?
First of all, we see India as a market for Trimble´s core businesses. In general, Trimble as a company attempts to apply world-class technology in the overall construction segment in order to bring efficiency, productivity, safety and quality. We look upon India, particularly because of the change in the government at the Centre. We focus more attention on India simply because of opportunities bases here. India in next 4-5 years may represent the largest geographical opportunity available for Trimble. The company started operation with 15-20 employees in 2007 and right now, the size of employees in company has swelled to 800 in India. So, we envisage 10 per cent of revenue to be generated from Indian operations in the future. India represents significant geographic opportunity as the momentum in India is strong. Trimble will contribute significantly to India with its capabilities that may impact the entire construction segment.
Have you assessed the size of Indian opportunities?
It is huge. The company registered revenues of US$2.4 billion for FY2014. Considering this, India represents very small percentage of those revenues. I hope in the next 4-5 years, it will represent a significant amount of growth. Going ahead, we see India as a very large market for Trimble´s products and solutions for various segments.
Do you have any plans of utilizing Indian operations for R&D?
Basically, Indian developmental resources are being used worldwide. We are technically operating in seven locations in India. We have great success in utilizing the development resources in India as a foundation for global products. Operating 24×7 around the world, the company has a presence in 36 countries.
The Modi-led government has launched ´Make in India´ initiative. Your comments on this.
Today, we have engaged in some kind of manufacturing in India through contractor manufacturers. I think, we respect international companies´ that make pragmatic decisions. But, we manufacture, develop our products from a number of locations. So, we think, ´Make in India´ concept is that world product is proportionally based Indian sourced intellectual property. We would like to be efficient, internationally. We respect the Indian government´s decision on Make in India movement.
We will approach in pragmatic and constructed way so that we will figure out our decision on further manufacturing in India over the time.
The Government has allocated Rs 7,000 crore for the development of 100 smart cities. Do you have any plans to become a part of the government´s 100 smart city project?
Building a smart city intelligently and smart construction is the primary territory of Trimble. Trimble will play a significant role in building 100 smart cities.. Being the largest provider of telematic providers in the world, we would expect our participation in that segment. Trimble can provide significant capability in intelligent transportation system also. As the concept gets developed, we will be open to partnerships with Indian developers.
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