Japanese business conglomerate Toshiba on Friday announced $500-million investment in India to strengthen social infrastructure businesses revolving around power, water management and software development and make the country a strategic business hub catering to the firm?s global needs.
The investment comes at a time when India is witnessing acute slowdown in the economy, and when business sentiment has reached an all-time low. Toshiba, however, expects the Indian market to grow rapidly in the future and has not only promised to scale up investments but open up 5,000 new jobs to take its total manpower to 8,000 by 2017, about 2.5 times higher than the current figure.
?For Toshiba, India is important not only as a market, but also as a strategic export development base with highly talented people. Toshiba will position India as a strategic world business hub in thermal power, energy transmission and distribution equipment, water and waste water treatment, and software development businesses,? president and CEO Hisao Tanaka said. He is in India with a large delegation of top company executives to formalise investment and growth strategy.
As part of the strategy, the Japanese company expects a seven-fold jump in Indian sales to a level of $3 billion or R18,000 crore by FY17. The majority of this revenue will flow from the social infrastructure business and power sector. The company will use its JV entity Toshiba JSW Power Systems to meet the needs of supercritical equipment for the power sector in India and abroad.
