Banking big on the governments thrust to boost infrastructure, global transportation player Bombardier is eyeing up to USD 1 billion business from India in the next five years from USD 300 million, at present, its chief Laurent Troger has said.
Bombardier counts India among top markets for its railway business and has invested over USD 100 million in the past two decades. The firm is also a collaborator in the governments ambitious Make in India drive and is the largest supplier of the Delhi Metro.
“We expect that in five years we will double our business in India. We can reach between USD 700 million and USD 1 billion… India, in the overall landscape of Bombardier Transportation, is a significant country. The climate now is very favourable, if we look for investment,” Bombardier Transportation President Troger told PTI.
Troger said compared to the global scale of business to the tune of about USD 8.5 billion, India revenue was about USD 300 million, but with the governments thrust on drives like Make in India and Skill India, the company saw a hoard of opportunities here.
“In India I would say this is (business) quite small… We expect to grow it significantly. If you can move above 10 per cent, this is great. Right now it is less than 10 per cent, which we want to double to about 20 per cent by 2020. What we see there is significant dynamic in investment with new the government,” Troger said.
“On infrastructure front, the government is very keen that it is linked to the GDP,” he said adding “this can attract a lot of players, but we consider by far we have the largest footprints and we are also the largest player having the new technology.”
Terming Make in India as one of the key initiatives of the government, Bombardier chief said it is based on a very strong local footprint when you integrate in the same place in the same country most of your capabilities.
On financing, Troger said it remains the main critical area to ensure projects on time.
He said, “The government is more and more open to private financing through contracts and also open to soft loans from other countries like Japan and Europe,” and added that the government could attract huge investment.
While terming investment climate as “very favourable”, Troger stressed “it would require a very strong decision making in executing the projects and to ensure that these projects are bringing in return …it has to be sustained.”