Abb In Move For Collaboration Between India, China Arms

The $25 billion global engineering major Asea Brown Boveri (ABB) has kicked off the process of collaboration between its Indian and Chinese arms for catering to the Asian market. The two sides have decided to pool their resources in the cement and steel sectors.

"ABB has globally identified India and China as thrust engines for growth. The companies in the two companies have complementary skills in the cement and steel sectors. It makes sense to synchronize them and the two sides have recently started cooperating in these sectors. The co-operation is an indication of the growing importance of the Indian operations in ABB's scheme of things globally," said Ravi Uppal, president and managing director, Asea Brown Boveri.

The Indian arm which posted a turnover of Rs 1,060 crore last year is planning to touch Rs 1,600 crore in the next two years.

About 60 to 65 per cent of the revenues are contributed by the power transmission and distribution businesses.

Last year, exports accounted for about 12 per cent of the turnover and the company is planning to increase it to 25 per cent in the next two years.

The company has exported to Argentina, Brazil, Taiwan, Vietnam, Venezuela, EU and the US. The company has now lined up new products being manufactured at its Maneja factory near Vadodara and the Nasik factory for exports.

The new offerings being rolled out for exports in these factories is high voltage circuit breakers (Maneja) and medium voltage outdoor circuit breakers and magnetic actuators (Nashik).

"We are not only exporting to the developing countries but also to the developed world,"Uppal said. ABB has also set up an R&D facility for its automation business at Bangalore.

Uppal said that the company is eyeing acquisitions in India for enhancing its product portfolio but declined to spell out any names.