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US-headquartered industrial automation company Rockwell Automation is bullish on India, as the rise in middle-class aspirations drives consumer-oriented industries to adopt technology at a faster pace.
“India is one of our fastest growing markets. Some of that has to do with general growth in GDP and demonstrates that, as more people enter the middle class than ever before, they are looking for consumer products — more choices in food, clean water, drugs that will help them live longer,” Blake Moret, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Rockwell Automation said, addressing the media at the Automation Fair hosted by the company in Philadelphia.
Key areas
He added that among five key areas where Rockwell Automation is offering its automation solutions — which includes transportation (automobile and tyres), consumer products (food, beverage, home and personal care), life sciences (pharmaceuticals and medical devices), oil and gas and mining and cement industries — in India, the company is betting on consumer products, automotive and pharma industries.
According to Joe Sousa, president, Asia-Pacific region, Rockwell Automation, India has bounced back to a double-digit growth after 2017 when the industrial growth was hampered by GST and demonetisation.
Not only macroeconomic factors, but internal restructuring as well as restricting its partner network have helped the company get back to the growth mode in India.
According to Moret, Rockwell Automation is scouting for local partners in India — engineering companies, distributors and system integrators as it continues to build its ecosystem in the country. The company also plans to double its workforce across its performance centres in Noida, Pune and design centre in Bengaluru.
“We expect to have another solid year in Asia-Pacific in 2019. China continues to be strong; India continues to be strong from a growth perspective after a lull 2017; we expect the prospects to be strong in many years to come,” Sousa said. The company management did not reveal its earning details as well as guidelines for growth in India.
Globally, the company has reported net income of $345.9 million in Q4 2018 ended September 30. Its sales stood at $1,729.5 million in Q4 2018, up by 3.7 per cent from $1,667.5 million in Q4 FY17, although its organic sales grew by 7.3 per cent.
Sales in the Asia-Pacific region were $251 million for Q4, registering 9.7 per cent organic growth — marginally higher than 7.5 per cent growth in the US and 8.7 per cent growth in Canada. .
Rockwell Automation has been focussing on several major trends in industrial automation, developing its solutions over concepts such as connected enterprise, employing new analytics and digital solutions to transform data into information that empowers business to make better informed decisions, data analytics, artificial intelligence, augmented reality and other technologies that could help business eliminate errors of inefficiencies and increase productivity.
The writer was at the Automation Fair in Philadelphia on invitation by Rockwell Automation
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