GE sees India as manufacturing hub for global markets

US engineering and technology bellwether General Electric plans to leverage the available talent pool and low manufacturing costs in India to make it a manufacturing hub for its global markets.

Towards this, the company is expanding its production facilities in India, Banmali Agrawala, president and CEO, GE South Asia, said, adding that the upcoming manufacturing facility at Chakan, Pune, was the first major step in this direction.

GE India, which has manufacturing and R&D facilities in several places, including Bangalore, Secunderabad, Hyderabad, Pune and Gurgaon, is currently expanding its Chakan facility in Pune.

GE's healthcare division is all set to start shipping ultra low-cost medical devices made in India to emerging markets globally, Agrawala said.

Its three manufacturing facilities in Bangalore will start manufacturing a range of products, including ultrasound machines, ECG units, maternal and infant care equipments, for markets in Africa, parts of Europe, Latin America, and Asia.

These products, according to GE, have a cost advantage of up to 40 per cent compared to GE's products manufactured elsewhere and these products are expected to meet 10-15 per cent of the global healthcare equipment market.

The Rs1,000-crore new manufacturing facility, coming up at a site is located at MIDC Industrial Park at Chakan, will initially focus on energy products and technologies driven by the industry needs for power generation, transmission and distribution as well as measurement and control.

The Chakan plant will produce a range of diversified products for the aviation, energy, oil and gas and transportation sectors, Agrawala said.

Speaking in Bangalore last week, Anders Wold, president and CEO of GE's global ultrasound division, had said, "India offers the ideal template to custom-make products for other emerging markets globally."

The global market for medical and diagnostic devices is expected to reach $362 billion by 2015, according to market researcher Global Industry Analysts.

The $150-billion General Electric Corp is present in 164 countries.