Danfoss to invest up to ₹100 crore on new facility

Danfoss Industries will invest between ₹70 and 100 crore to set up a newplant at Oragadam near Chennai to produce low-voltage frequency drives.

The new plant, expected to go on stream around September, will produce 120,000 drives, Danfoss India’s President Ravichandran Purushohaman told Business Line here on Wednesday.

Danfoss, which is a wholly-owned subsidiary of the €5.8-billion Danish multinational of the same name, manufactures in India a range of electric and electro-mechanical devices such as compressors, energy meters, motors, pumps and valves. The company has so far invested $150 million in India.

Danfoss India has been present as an India-incorporated company for 20 years now, but it set up its Oragadam plant in 2002. In 2016, its turnover crossed the ₹1,000-crore mark.

The company’s products span across industries, from automotive to food processing to industrial heating and cooling. Danfoss global President and CEO, Kim Fausing, who was here, said India was an important market for the company and has “landed a huge contract from an Indian automotive player” for supply of components for hybrid vehicles. He did not wish to name the customer.

Fausing said the trade war between the US and China did cast a shadow on Danfoss’ businesses globally, as for many other companies. However, asked if India could benefit by multinationals broad-basing their supplier base outside of China, he replied in the affirmative.

As for Danfoss, he said that the plan had always been to localise production more in India and buy more from India for Danfoss’ global operations.

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