The Hindu Business Line : Rockwell Automation to move back-office to India

EVEN as the outsourcing debate reaches fever pitch in the US, the Milwaukee-based $4.1-billion Rockwell Automation Inc plans to shift its IT back-office operations to India. The company is also on the lookout for acquiring an IT firm with software applications and system integration capabilities to enable it to deliver more applications to its customers worldwide.

"We are looking, as a company, to utilise more of the skills of India with respect to IT infrastructure and doing more of our IT back-office work in India," the President and CEO, Mr Keith Nosbusch, said.

Mr Nosbusch, who took charge about six months ago and was visiting India for the first time since, said the company planned to leverage its comfortable free cash flows to acquire existing IT-based facilities in the region.

He said the company plans to leverage the system engineering capabilities available in India for its subsidiaries around the globe and to service its customers. "The majority of our investments in India would be in people." The Indian market, for the company's vast array of products including power systems, control systems and IT solutions, is the fastest growing in the world and is expected to clock a 40 per cent growth during fiscal 2005. The growth areas identified by the company in India, besides the core traditional drivers of growth, include consumer products, pharmaceuticals, life sciences, beverages, food and the automotive sector.

Mr Nosbusch said the company was going to step up investments in the original equipment manufacturers space.

Rockwell Automation, which is present in the Indian market through a closely held subsidiary, has its presence in traditional markets, including metals, the oil and gas sector, cement and power utilities.

Mr Nosbusch said the increasing focus on Asia and East Europe was a step in trying to balance the resources of the company to where its customers were. "Our customers are growing fastest in Asia and so our resources would be going to the region," he said.