GE's blueprint for growth in India

By Our Corporate Bureau | 14 Nov 2006

'USD 8 billion in assets and USD 8 billion in sales by 2010', was Jeff Immelt's Indian formula when he came visiting. GE has given a breakdown of what's going to help achieve the USD 8 billion mark. CNBC-TV18 has the details.

When you have more than half a dozen businesses, you need a special day to showcase them. That's what GE did by hosting the first GE day in India. A year after GE Chairman, Jeff Immelt, said India would be one of GE's fastest markets, if not the fastest market, GE's India chief says they are close to beating their own estimates of doing $3 billion by 2008.

Infrastructure, financial services and healthcare are the engines of growth that GE is banking on in India. GE Infrastructure will double from the current $500 million to become a $1 billion business by next year.

GE Healthcare has bagged 128 patents, and will setup India's first radio-pharmacy center in the capital. It will also set up India's first integrated development center in Bangalore to conduct clinical trials.

The consumer and industrial business is expected to treble by 2010, while GE Plastics, which is currently a $100 million business, is expected to register double-digit growth and touch about $500 million by 2010.

Apart from its own businesses, GE is also getting onto the 'Lalu Express'. It is in talks to provide the railways with advanced signaling technology.

GE is also looking at manufacturing locomotives in India. And if that wasn't enough, the company says it is also looking at aircraft leasing. While GE hasn't given an individual breakup of just how much they are putting into each business, their growth projections are on track.