Honeywell expands Hyd R&D centre

Honeywell Technology Solutions Lab (HTSL), a research and development unit of US-based Honeywell International, on Sunday opened its expanded facility and a flight operations centre at the APIIC IT layout in Nanakramguda here. Chief Minister N Kiran Kumar Reddy inaugurated the facility.

The Rs 100-crore Hyderabad facility employs 600 engineers and is engaged in research in the fields of aerospace systems, automation and control systems, avionics and transportation systems, among others. The flight operations centre offers flight monitoring services to 14,000, or close to 50 per cent, of the privately operated aircraft in the world (by business houses for instance), said Krishna Mikkilineni, president, HTSL.

Headquartered in Bangalore, HTSL employs close to 11,000 people in India, and reported a 15 per cent growth in business last year to $550 million.

“India is a high-growth market and has a lot of engineering talent. The growth trajectory is expected to continue over the next several years,” Mikkilineni told reporters. Indian R&D accounts for 25-30 per cent of the company’s total, and has the potential to contribute more, he added.

Jim Bujold, president, Honeywell India, said, India was going to be more and more important for the company.

“We are at the beginning of a growth spurt here. HTSL is not just about serving existing overseas customers. We believe in creating value for Indian customers who are themselves becoming global players,” he said.

Honeywell has manufacturing units in Pune, Chennai and Gurgaon, apart from five R&D centres.

The company has sponsored the advanced process control and automation design lab at JNTU-Kakinada in addition to faculty and curriculum development programmes. These are aimed at providing skills for the petrochemical and downstream industries centred around the upcoming Petroleum, Chemicals and Petrochemicals Investment Region (PCPIR).

Providing the right industrial atmosphere was one of the two prime points of focus for the government, said chief minister Reddy, adding it was taxes from industries that helped the government meet its ambitious programmes in education and agriculture sectors.

He said the government was spending Rs 3,400 crore a year on scholarships to enable access to education to all irrespective of their financial ability.

“US President Obama’s reference to Indian talent as a challenge is an indication of the fact that we are one of the best,” the chief minister said.

Two new greenfield IT zones

IT minister Ponnala Lakshmaiah said the government had decided to set up two greenfield IT projects in Maheswaram and Uppal on the outskirts of Hyderabad. It was in the process of getting Rs 2,000 crore funding from the central government for water, power, rail and road facilities.

This was in addition to the new plans to be announced in two to three weeks for promotion of IT investments in Tier-II cities of Visakhapatnam, Tirupati and Warangal, he said. Plans for these cities have been finalised by APIIC.