ABB Ltd to expand, strengthen work force in India

"India is among the fastest growing economies in the world today and a key focus area for ABB. It is an important part of our growth strategy and will play an integral role in strengthening AB global footprint", said Hubertus von Grunberg, chairman, ABB Group. "We presently employ over 6000 people in India and expect our human resource base to touch around 10000 by 2010 to support our growth plans" he added.

ABB's expansion plans include a new greenfield facility at Neelamangala, near Bangalore for manufacturing low voltage products and power electronics. The company is also establishing new manufacturing units at Vadodara for small power transformers and distribution automation products. Meanwhile, capacity and range expansion is underway across businesses and locations. ABB will double its production capacity for high voltage (HV) breakers, instrument transformers and high tension (HT) machines as well as expand the capacity of large power transformers to 17000 MVA as part of its expansion plans. ABB will also manufacture 765 kV equipment in India, to support the country''s power infrastructure needs.

"We are extremely encouraged with the performance of our Indian operations and India will soon be among the top five markets for ABB. Based on market outlook and our well established presence here, we expect the business volumes for ABB in India to double by 2010. Having completed our previously announced investment programme of $100 million, we now plan to invest an additional $100 million for capacity and range expansion over the next two - three years, to support this growth" said Fred Kindle, president and CEO, ABB Group. "In addition to serving the needs of the Indian market, we are also determined to leverage India as a key resource base. Besides its pivotal role in the South Asia Pacific region, India is increasingly contributing to ABB''s global operations," he added

ABB says it is committed to leveraging India''s competitive advantage and engineering talent to a greater extent. In addition to its existing global operations and engineering centre in Bangalore, a second such centre has recently been established in Chennai to support power systems and process automation projects across the world. The company plans to double its headcount at these centres from the present strength of around 350 engineers.

ABB also plans to significantly increase the number of engineers and domain experts at its global R&D Center at Bangalore . This is now the biggest such centree in ABB''s global R&D network and is handling increasingly complex projects that are playing an integral part in the Company''s ongoing quest to remain at the forefront of technology and innovation.