ZTE plans to set up mfg unit in India

HERE COMES THE DRAGON

Senior management will meet the home secretary today.

ZTE, the Chinese telecom equipment maker, plans to set up a manufacturing unit in India, according to the company's India Chairman and Managing Director, D K Ghosh.

"We will finalise the location and the investment for it soon," Ghosh said.

ZTE's senior management will meet the home secretary, G K Pillai, tomorrow to sort out security concerns over Chinese telecom equipment.

"We have no formal communication from the government, but what we have learnt from operators is that certain companies, including ZTE, have not met security tests."

ZTE, along with another Chinese company Huawei, has been facing the ire of the Indian government over security issues. Though the government maintains that there is no blanket ban on Chinese telecom equipment makers, it has not cleared any order for Huawei and ZTE since December last year.

Orders worth $200-300 million for the telecom industry have been stuck due to these security issues, according to Ghosh.

"ZTE fully understands and respects the security concern of the Indian government and will unconditionally adhere to the policies and relative requirements. Once the regulations are put in place, ZTE will proactively work with the relevant authorities to follow all the procedures of the test and we are confident of clearing all required parameters. And in the interim, we hope to receive the same equal treatment that other manufacturers can expect in India," the company said.

In another development, ZTE announced that it would set up an engineering centre office in Delhi to meet the increasing demand. The company has been witnessing a growth of 30-50 per cent in India in recent years. India is ZTE's biggest market outside China. It employs 2,300 people in India, out of which 88 per cent are locals.

Ghosh said the company had a market share of 15-16 per cent in Indian telecom equipment market.

Huang Dabin, ZTE's India CEO, said the company had order book of $1.5 billion in 2009, with revenues of $750 million from India.