Hitachi and
Panasonic, Japan's two biggest corporations, plan to invest more than
Rs 5,700 crore in India as they have identified the country as one of their biggest bets for growth and a base to expand in Africa and Middle East markets.
Hitachi, which held its first board of directors meeting outside Japan in its 102-year history in New Delhi on Thursday, announced Rs 4,700-crore expansion plans that include building 5 manufacturing plants.
Japan's largest industrial power and electronics conglomerate has formulated a 'India business strategy 2015' plan to make the country one of its top markets and targets a three-fold jump in its India revenues to Rs 20,000 crore by 2015-16.
"With its market, human resources and business partnerships, India is an important strategic base for Hitachi," its global president Hiroaki Nakanishi said.
Panasonic too has lined up more than Rs 1,000 crore investment in a new plant at Haryana and targets Rs 20,000-crore revenues by 2014-15, a year earlier than Hitachi.
Yorihisa Shiokawa, Panasonic's managing executive officer and chief of the Asia Pacific, Middle East and African operations, said the firm wants to set up more such plants and become the country's largest appliances maker by 2018.
"Localisation will be the key for Panasonic's growth in India and the main objective has been that the products...should be specially conceptualised and customised for the Indian consumers, keeping the local needs in mind," Shiokawa said.
The development is in line with Japanese electronic companies' increasing dependence on India as one of their highest growth-potential markets at a time when sales in the US and Europe are slowing. In end-August, Sony Corp President and CEO Kazuo Hirai came to India within months of taking charge and announced plans to increase investment in the market and expand sales by more than 30% from last year's $1.1-billion revenue (Rs 5,500 crore) to make India its fifth largest market.
Source :economictimes.indiatimes.com
