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INTERVIEW - GE India sales could grow 73 pct this year http://in.today.reuters.com/news/newsArticle.aspx?type=businessNews&storyID=2006-09-09T054218Z_01_NOOTR_RTRJONC_0_India-266688-1.xml
Sat Sep 9, 2006
CHICAGO (Reuters) - General Electric Co.'s Indian revenue could grow as much as 73 percent this year, a top executive for the media and industrial conglomerate said on Friday.
GE expects Indian sales to be in the range of $1.6 billion to $1.9 billion, up from $1.1 billion last year, GE India Chief Executive Scott Bayman said in an interview, and it remains on track to hit a company target of $3 billion by 2008.
"The revenue stream is maybe a little less predictable right now, but we could be closer to $2 (billion) than we are to $1.5 (billion)," he told Reuters after a speech to the Chicago Council on Global Affairs.
"India can grow at 8 to 10 percent a year on a GDP basis," he added. "We can grow much faster than that because of the need around infrastructure and how well we fit."
Bayman, who has been head of GE's profitable Indian arm for 13 years, said growth has been across the board but the biggest opportunities are in infrastructure -- aircraft engines, power generation, oil and gas, water and possibly locomotives.
A lot of the success GE has seen in India over the past year is in businesses such as engines and power generation, where orders get placed over two to three years, he said.
Even smaller businesses are growing rapidly, however. GE's Indian plastics business could reach $500 million annually from about $100 million now, Bayman said. Financial services, the medical sector and real estate are other good opportunities.
"It's only a matter of when these revenues start to come in," said Bayman, who is based in New Delhi.
Like China, India is a popular emerging market for multinational investment due to its strong economic growth.
GE said earlier this year it is targeting Indian sales of $8 billion by 2010. With infrastructure development outstripping demand, that should not be a problem, though it could be reached a year earlier or later due to the unpredictability of India's government bureaucracy, he said.
"What you have to pay attention to in India is, directionally, is it still moving?" Bayman said, citing the country's rule of law, strong banking and financial services, and regulated stock exchanges. "I've seen six prime ministers and five governments and not one of them has changed the direction of reforms.
"The Achilles heel in all this for India is the power sector," he added, "and whether it can get fixed and keep pace with the growth."
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