The Hindu Business Line : ArvinMeritor plans to triple business in Asia Pacific

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Bangalore Feb. 3 Auto parts firm ArvinMeritor plans to triple its business in Asia Pacific including India and double the number of engineers in its technical centre in the country.

The ArvinMeritor Senior Vice-President of strategy and corporate development, Mr Rakesh Sachdev, told Business Line that in the next five years, over 30 per cent of the company's business will come from Asia Pacific, including India.

"Currently, our geographic business split is 60 per cent North America, 30 per cent Europe and 10 per cent Asia Pacific and rest of world. We are working towards a one third, one third, one third in each of the major regions of North America (including Canada and Mexico), Europe (including Eastern Europe), and Asia Pacific and rest of world," Mr Sachdev said.

ArvinMeritor is based out of the US and had sales of $8.8 billion in 2005. A tier-one auto parts' company, ArvinMeritor provides solutions for heavy-duty and commercial trucks, passenger cars and light trucks.

Mr Sachdev said currently ArvinMeritor sources over $ 200 million of auto components from suppliers in India. Domestic sales in India too were around $200 million. He, however, did not share the projected figures for the next year.

Mr Sachdev said the company was also investing in its technical centre located in Bangalore doubling the number of engineers this year to 200.

ArvinMeritor has also established new shared services office in India this year.

Venture with Anand Group

ArvinMeritor has joint ventures with Anand Group in India for its light vehicle business and Bharat Forge for its commercial vehicle business. It also owns a minority stake in Gabriel India.

It recently entered into a supply agreement to source shock absorbers from India for its commercial vehicle operations in Canada.

"We are continuing to grow with these partners and will look at tie-up opportunities with other companies only if there is a compelling business case for ArvinMeritor," Mr Sachdev said.

One of the key strategies for ArvinMeritor is to grow aggressively in the Asia pacific region which includes India.

"We will continue to capitalise on the growing business opportunities we see in India in the future," Mr Sachdev said.

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