GE looks at up to 20% rise in revenues

The company's portfolio in India includes power, oil & gas, transportation, healthcare and aviation

GE is looking at up to 20% increase in revenues from Indian businesses, Chairman and CEO of the US-based company Jeffery R Immelt said today.

The company's portfolio in India includes power, oil & gas, transportation, healthcare and aviation.

"We hope our revenues from business here (India) will grow 15-20% this year," Immelt told reporters here without revealing any other financial details. Globally, GE had posted $147.3 billion revenue in 2012.

The company which set up India's first hydro power plant in Karnataka is betting big on its power business here and is more likely to focus on renewable energy than coal and gas projects as there is scarcity of conventional fuel.

"Power business is in a hamstring now... Though companies are looking at importing LNG (liquified natural gas), but gas and coal are issues, they will be addressed in a few years," said John Flannery, President and CEO GE India.

Power sector is a key business for GE India, he added.

The company is also of the view that India's power deficit is an inhibitor to its growth.

The power vertical of the company has been dismantled into three segments—GE Oil&Gas, GE Power & Water and GE Energy Management.

The entire India operations of the company would be headed by Banmali Agrawala from April 1, 2013.

GE, which has supplied nuclear reactors at Tarapore Atomic station feels that Fukushima nuclear disaster in Japan, in March 2011, and availability of cheaper gas in the US has impacted nuke power business worldwide.

"Nuclear industry has been impacted by two things, Fukushima disaster and $2 price of gas in the US..Very cheap gas," Immelt said, adding that those things have had an impact everywhere including India.

GE India's manufacturing facility will come up near Pune by the end of this year. It currently employs 14,000 people in India.