An HP Enterprise company Aruba Networks that operates on mobility and Internet of Things (IoT) solutions has been planning to begin the manufacturing of its range of wireless and wired products in India.
The IoT solutions company is at present assessing proposals from various states and will decide on the location on the basis of the incentives offered as stated by Keerti Melkote, president of the company.
“India was never a large end market for us, but over the last couple of years, there have been a lot of opportunities both in the public and private sectors,” said Melkote.
The company currently manufactures and builds its products mostly in China. It has now decided to initially cater to the domestic demand before it is scaled up to also serve global markets.
Aruba has a research and development (R&D) centre in Bengaluru which houses around 1,100 people. Talking about the expense, the company invests close to $60 million annually on R&D. The company stated that the investment on the new manufacturing plant would be in addition to the $60 million R&D budget that the company had for India. However, the exact amount of the investment has not been disclosed.
Aruba Networks is also in the process of identifying manufacturing partners in the country, where it believes the cost of manufacturing will initially be higher than what it is in China since the components ecosystem is not as mature. “But we will build for only India for a year and a half and then ship globally as well,” said Melkote.
Aruba Networks expects to contribute in triple digits to the company’s revenue in terms of percentage which in terms of India is in single digits currently.