Universal Robots expects India biz to grow over 100 pc

Denmark-based Universal Robots expects its business in India to grow over 100 per cent with adoption of its robots in sectors like apparel, finance and electronics, the company said today.

"Universal Robots has been shipping to India since last 5-6 years. We opened our office here three years ago. Automobile and automotive component makers have been early adopters of our robots.

"Now electronics, apparel and finance are opening up. We expect our business to grow over 100 per cent year-on-year," Universal Robots General Manager for South Asia Pradeep David said.

He said Universal Robots has globally shipped 25,000 robots, which the company brands as 'cobots', that can be customised to meet the requirement of industry vertical using them.

"In India, we have 400 installations. Bajaj Auto was one of the early adopters of our robots. They weigh 3-kilogram and are priced in the range of Rs 15-20 lakh a unit. They can work for 35,000 hours at full payload round the clock," David said.

Universal Robots today announced collaboration with German bank cash management firm Giesecke+Devrient, which has deployed system at RBI and other banks, to explore opportunity in the financial service segment.

"We have 67 per cent share in India in cash management. RBI has around 55 machines installed for cash verification processing system. We have started trial with Universal Robots for currency chest management in some banks.

"The robots can save time and money if installed for cash management and possibility of errors like pilferage etc is far low if it is done by robots," G+D India Deputy MD Vivek Shankar said.

He said installation of robots will also save cost of cash management at banks compared to the cash handling by human resource.