Beckhoff expands  

Germany-based Beckhoff Automation is expanding its international sales network with the establishment of a subsidiary in India and now has a global presence with twenty branches of its own. The newly established Beckhoff Automation started operations in India on Aug. 1, 2007. According to Jitendrakumar Kataria, managing director of Beckhoff Automation, the site chosen is the Muttha Towers technology park close to the airport. “Besides the market for industrial automation solutions, the demand for intelligent building automation is currently booming,” he said.  

Murata Machinery, of the Muratec group, from Japan is setting up its fully owned Indian subsidiary, Murata Machinery India Pvt Ltd, which will start its operations in December. Murata Machinery India, to begin with, will take up marketing, post-sale technical services including installations and spares of its textile machinery range for the sub-continent, hitherto handled by its authorized service partner, MMI Services of Mumbai. It may later on enlarge its operations to cover Murata Machinery’s other divisions, such as machine tools, logistics and automation equipment in India. The subsidiary will have its organizational bases in Delhi (registered office), Mumbai and Coimbatore, which will enable it to cover India’s textile clusters.  

Manufacturing exports  

According to the United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (ESCAP) in Bangkok, India is emerging as a force in manufacturing exports. Manufacturing exports have surged, growing 37.3 percent year-on-year in U.S. dollar terms between April and September 2006. Manufactured exports are dominated by capital-intensive engineering, chemical and petroleum products. The main engineering products, iron and steel are feeding large global demand, especially from China. India's automotive sector is also expanding rapidly.  

“India, along with China grabs all the limelight in the automation and software markets in Asia today. However automation suppliers understand the important role of Southeast Asia in the region and have adopted a mix of strategies to capture this highly competitive market,” observes Satish Lele, Director for research firm Frost & Sullivan’s Industrial Practice, Asia Pacific.  

Strong macroeconomic fundamentals, integration with the world economy, industrial pick-up and the significant work that still remains to be done with reference to the power sector, continue to offer bright prospects for both power and automation technologies businesses.  

About the Author
Uday Lal Pai, udaylalpai@gmail.com is a freelance journalist based in India.