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James Verrier’s recent visit to India was significant since it was his first since he took over as President and CEO of the US-headquartered BorgWarner.
Verrier’s visit coincided with US President, Barrack Obama’s and, perhaps, the only common ground for both men was to increase the bonding with India. BorgWarner has six entities spread across the country which have been focusing on the ‘Make in India’ theme for over three decades now. Its products include engines, transmissions and driveline systems.
Progress report“We are seeing good growth in India and I have met customers, employers and officials during my visit. BorgWarner is very pleased with the state of progress and things look impressive,” Verrier said in a telephone interview from New Delhi.
Like other international visitors, he also noticed an upbeat mood in the country. “From what I see and hear, there seems to be change and this is good for the economy and industry,” he added. India is an important growth lever for BorgWarner as it hopes to double business to $15 billion by 2020.
Historically, Europe has been the most important market for the company contributing to nearly 50 per cent of its business. However, with the changing global dynamics and Asia now taking centre stage, Europe’s share is tipped to fall to 40 per cent in the coming years with the US and Asia tied at 30 per cent each. It is here that India and China will play a big role for BorgWarner thanks to their booming automobile businesses.
Asia focusChina, of course, is way ahead with its annual output of cars at nearly 18 million units and projected to reach 30 million during the following decade. Its largest player, Volkswagen, is also BorgWarner’s biggest customer and expected to take up 11 per cent of sales in 2015 followed by Ford, Hyundai and Daimler. India, in contrast, is barely three million units but could double production by the end of this decade. The economy was in a slump for the last two years but industry experts believe it is now back on track and could grow at over 10 per cent from now to emerge the world’s third largest automobile market in the coming years.
According to Verrier, petrol and diesel cars would dominate the landscape with pure battery electric cars taking up three per cent of volumes and hybrids a tad higher in the 8-10 per cent space.
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