Make in India nudges RPG Group to invest at home

Currently, the $2.9 billion RPG Group earns 42 per cent of its revenue from overseas

The RPG Group had decided to abandon its target of earning 50 per cent of its revenue overseas and focus instead on local manufacturing in line with the government’s Make in India drive, group chairman Harsh Goenka said here today.

The $2.9 billion RPG Group earns 42 per cent of its revenue from overseas. “We are investing across our businesses as growth is in India. Among the BRICS (Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa) nations, India is growing fastest,” Goenka said.  

“We had earlier targeted earning 50 per cent of our revenue overseas but now we see the opportunity in India,” he said. Flagship Ceat Tyres will invest Rs 1,800 crore to double its capacity in Vadodara and Ambarnath near Mumbai and a new factory in Nagpur.

“Our engineering, procurement and construction company KEC International has started receiving orders for substations, transformers and other power equipment as the government has started spending on building infrastructure,” Goenka said. “Our group companies will not benefit initially, but in the long term, it (the goods and services tax) is good for corporates and for India. It will easily add 1 per cent to the Indian economy, which by itself is huge,” he said.

In the last two years, business sentiment had improved considerably with corruption at the top coming down to almost zero, Goenka said.  But work was needed at the state and lower levels of government, where corruption was still a challenge, he added. Goenka said technology companies like Uber and Amazon were creating new ecosystem that would help India meet its job creation targets. “RPG Ventures is incubating new businesses too. We are helping entrepreneurs in niche areas like medical technology,” he said.

The Digital India drive would help Indian manufacturing in a big way, Goenka pointed out. “Due to automation, we will require only 50 per cent workers in our new plants,” he added.  

Smart Cities would take India to the cusp of a revolution, he said. “Globally, there is a buzz about India and foreign investors are again keen to invest. We should grab this opportunity,” he added.