BS People: Bazmi Husain

Plugged into the top job

Bazmi Husain, who was last week appointed to head ABB India, is no newcomer to the company. As a 29-year veteran, Husain — he succeeds Biplab Majumder, who retired after 33 years with the company — pretty much knows the Indian market and the challenges faced by ABB India. Husain will take charge from January 1.

An electrical and electronics engineer from BITS Pilani and an MSc in Physics, Bazmi returns to India from ABB’s global headquarters in Zurich, Switzerland. He is currently head of the smart grid industry segment initiative within marketing & customer solutions.

Bazmi’s appointment comes at a time when ABB has been weathering intense competition in India. Net profits and growth have been contracting over the past few quarters on account of lower price realisations and continued costs on exit from its non-core rural electrification business.

“Bazmi is an outstanding choice to lead one of ABB’s most promising, strategically important growth markets,” said Gary Steel, Chairman of ABB India.

Bazmi joined ABB in 1981, and managed a variety of local business units and divisions in India and Singapore before taking charge of the research centre in India in 2002. From 2005 through 2009 he was director of ABB’s corporate research centre in Sweden and also led ABB’s global automation technology research.

Bazmi knows the Indian market pretty well. He was manager for the automation division from 1998-2001, which encompasses today’s low-voltage products, discrete automation and motion and also process automation businesses. “At the time, this was the largest business in India and he grew it significantly with his innovative approach to the market,” a company spokesperson said.