ABB: Technology that drives exponential growth

The Swedish-Swiss company has 45 manufacturing bases and over 10,000 employees in the country

September 10, 2017

The heavy engineering company has been present in India for over a century

The multi-national's diverse operations in India are in excess of US$1 billion

ABB operates mainly in robotics, power and automation technology

India is the largest engineering design and R&D resource base for ABB Group worldwide

ABB (ASEA Brown Boveri) is a Swedish-Swiss multinational conglomerate headquartered in Zürich, Switzerland, operating mainly in robotics, power and automation technology. For more than four decades, ABB has been at the forefront, innovating digitally connected and enabled industrial equipment and systems. Every day, ABB drives efficiency, safety and productivity in utilities, industry, transport and infrastructure on a global scale.

India Operations

ABB India Limited is engaged in power and automation businesses. The largest engineering hub for ABB worldwide, ABB India employs almost 4,000 engineers. Nearly 1,200 of these engineers are focused on research & development, making India the largest engineering hub for ABB worldwide. The company is set to convert its India business into a strong platform for its global technology and product operations. ABB sees a third of its India product volume feeding the export market in few years.

In 2015, ABB India registered net sales of US$1.2 million. The company has twelve manufacturing locations and thirty-nine factories in India, with one research centre and twenty-one marketing offices. Today, ABB India employs around 10,000 people in India at various locations like Bangalore, Ahmedabad, Bhopal, Bhubaneshwar, Chandigarh, Chennai, Coimbatore, Dehradun, Faridabad, Halol, Haridwar, Hyderabad, Jaipur, Jamshedpur, Kochi, Kolkata, Lucknow, Mumbai, Mysore, Nagpur, Nashik, Nelamangala, Pune, Raipur and Savli.

ABB also plans to double the 600-strong workforce at in Chennai in the next two years. ABB has partaken in projects key to nation-building, supporting government initiatives of Power to All (North-East Agra HVDC link, canal-top solar power plant),  Smart Cities (metros across seven cities), and even green ports (Tuticorin). ABB is the best-in- class example of Make in India. On an annualized basis, ABB invests US$100 million in strengthening and modernizing manufacturing and engineering capabilities.

Opportunities for Growth

ABB has seen the country evolve over decades, and today it is well-positioned today to undertake the next-level of growth. The size and demographics not only imply high demand but also a deep resource pool of agile engineers and technicians – which can significantly shape ABB and its customers’ digital transformation. India’s geographic location, with its local experiences and associations, makes the country an ideal design and source solution to help Asia, Middle-East and Africa leap-frog into the energy and industrial revolutions.

Currently, ABB is betting on the utility and electricity segments, e-mobility, especially charging solutions for e-rickshaws and renewable energy, which are the part of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s game plan to pull around 18,000 villages out of darkness and have only battery run rickshaws by 2030. Enthused at the possibility of expanding operations in India, ABB Global CEO Ulrich Spiesshofer observes, “ABB is into power and automation. Over 300 million Indians do not have access to electricity, and there are two options to reach electricity to them. It can be either through the conventional way or through microgrids, where you can take solar or wind energy and combine them with storage and distribute them.

Another big development in ABB India is the supplier development. The company has more than 700 suppliers in India. It has also put in place a supplier sustainability development programme among others under which more than 200 have been enrolled”

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