GE India not to focus on 'target' to achieve $8 bn

Company wakes up to ‘new market reality’, says it was an ‘aspirational target’.

Diversified global technology company General Electric Co (GE) on Friday said the company was not focusing on the target it set earlier to achieve revenues of $8 billion in India by 2010, owing to the ‘new market reality.’

The company, which reported sales of $2.8 billion (last reported figure) in 2007, however, said it remained confident of the growth opportunities in India in the medium to long-term, owing to huge spending expected to happen in infrastructure development.

“We are not focusing on it... it is an aspirational target we had set out two-three years ago. Given the new market reality, what I got to do is to figure out ways to bring the best technologies to this country,” TP Chopra, president & CEO, GE India said here. In 2007, GE India had set a target of touching $8 billion in sales in 2010.

Chopra said the company’s focus in India would be to bring in affordable technologies meant for the Indian market. He said despite the liquidity issues, which had affected infrastructure development in India towards the fourth quarter of the last year, the company was very much optimistic about the opportunity in this sector. “I am very bullish on India. The country needs infrastructure and the investment will happen. I will give this credit to the government for really focusing and driving the spending on infrastructure in the country.”

The company expects the demand on clean energy, including solar and wind, to drive growth in India, other than healthcare. GE has introduced a new baby warmer healthcare product, which was designed by the company’s R&D centre in Bangalore, especially targeting the developing nations including India. Besides, it has introduced a portable ultrasound imaging, which was designed and developed in Bangalore for global markets.

The company said despite the global economic slowdown, the Indian healthcare market had mostly remained unaffected. “I do not see any sluggishness in demand in India. Government continues to buy, tenders continue to float. Challenge, however, is a little more in financing,” V Raja, president and CEO, GE Healthcare South Asia, said.

GE Healthcare clocked revenues of about $500 million in 2008 and is looking at a double digit growth this year.