Three Danish Companies- Jansen, Rool and ECM- have entered into a joint venture to set up a 100 % Export Oriented Unit (EOU) in Bangalore. With an initial investment of US $ 12.4 m, the unit will engage in production of stainless steel sub components for hitech dairy machinery and wind mills. The project will employ 150 people in the first phase, which will later be doubled, with an additional investment of US $ 12 m.

US-based Interwoven, an Enterprise Content Management (ECM) solutions provider recently set up an R&D centre in Bangalore. This facility is Interwoven’s only setup outside the US. Starting with 25 employees it plans to escalate to 125 within a year.

ECM solutions aims at managing unstructured data i.e. data that does not reside on a database management system backed by a data warehouse, and is the fastest growing fields of software.

Anest Iwata, the US $ 250 m Japanese air compressor manufacturer, plans to make India the sourcing base for its Asian and US markets, estimated at over US $ 300-400 m. The move is geared by the 25 per cent cost benefit India offers in manufacturing certain models (non-oil free) of air compressors.

Anest Iwata is in a 51:49 joint venture with Motherson Sumi Group in India. The Company, Anest Iwata Motherson, manufactures state-of-the-art cast iron reciprocating air compressors at its assembly plant in Noida. The only manufacturing facility outside Japan, Anest Iwata will further invest Rs 5-6 crore (US $ 1-1.3 m) towards setting up a new assembly line to enhance its production capacity.

The JV has now introduced to India, the patented Japanese, oil- free scroll air compressors technology that differs from the conventional screw and piston compressors.

Air compressors are used in wide range of industries like hospitals, auto, food processing, garments, FMCG, pharmaceutical, electronic goods, etc. to provide energy through compressed air. The market in India is estimated to be worth approximately US $ 250 m, of which 35-40 per cent is organised.

The US $ 7 b plus, ADP Inc, has proposed to expand its dealer services operations in India- ADP India Dealer Services- with an additional investment of US $ 2 m over the next few months. The division, which started in Hyderabad last year accounts for over US $1 b in global revenues, providing back-office support services to the parent’s global clients.

Satisfied with the quality and cost-effective services of its India centre, the US parent has proposed to assign more clients to the Indian operations. The Indian Centre will therefore be boosting its 16,000 sq ft area with another 24,000 sq ft of space accommodating as many as 250 professionals.

Also operating in the centre is the ADP’s software division that has been working on developing an upgraded version of Customer Relationship Management (CRM) products. The increased investments will also see some important product developments assigned to the Indian centre, revealed Mr. Ravi Kanduri- Head of the Hyderabad operations.

A leading provider of software development and related IT services, US-based Virtusa Inc, has opened its third Indian, advanced technology centre (ATC) in Chennai. The new centre incorporates state-of-the-art ICT infrastructure facilitates, 24-hour virtual software development- using data, VOIP, voice and video conferencing, in a secure and robust environment that runs on international private leased circuits

Virtusa currently has1,100 employees across its two ATCs in Hyderabad and will recruit over 650 employees over the next 12 months for its Chennai Centre.

German major, Siemens AG, is exploring acquisition opportunities in India to expand its presence in the Asian region. Currently, revenues from the region amount close to €74 b annually i.e. 12% of the global revenues, while the Indian arm of the engineering giant, accounts for 16% of the revenues generated from the Asian region.

Siemens AG executive vice president and CFO, Heinz-Joachim Neuburger, stated that the Co was considering acquisition possibilities to supplement the current product range and skill sets so as to build on the already existing platform. Besides the Indian subsidiary has ample financial resources, which could be put to optimum use with the backing of Siemens AG

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