Davos 2023 | Hitachi sees India as a base for conducting international business, says country MD Bharat Kaushal

Traditionally, Hitachi did business in India for India, but it is now increasingly emerging as a base to do business outside of India, said Hitachi India Managing Director Bharat Kaushal, who spoke exclusively to Moneycontrol on the sidelines of the 2023 World Economic Forum in Davos.

“India is increasingly emerging as a base to do business outside India, especially in capital goods, where the government has launched a lot of incentives for technology transfer, and also funding it, allowing you to keep the IPR [intellectual property rights] — these are very significant steps,” he said.

He added that when this is combined with India's volumes, they get higher margins in overseas markets that a company like Hitachi has access to.

“India certainly emerges as a much bigger destination for us and for other Japanese companies too,” he said.

Speaking about the company’s investments in India, Kaushal said that the capital goods industry requires constant investment, particularly in the rail business.

“We are not just doing Indian Railways modernisation, or the metros, or even the high-speed train. We are also trying to supply to North America and other places from India. So you have Japanese technology coated in Indian Rupees making it more competitive,” he said.

On the hiring front, he added that the biggest pressure the company has is on the digital front. “That's because changing nature of business, from building access to deliveries and platforms, so you need more and more people. Everybody, including the competition is in that same scramble,” he said.

From a macro perspective, Kaushal said that consistency and stability in India has not been in question, and is the “most significant factor in people looking at more medium and long-term strategies in India”.

“We aren’t talking anymore of low cost in India, we are talking of competitive solutions. On the manufacturing side, component industries — whether it's automotive, elevators or anything, they get amortized with higher volumes. When you look at India as a base from that perspective, you have a great story to tell,” he said.

When asked about a specific reform he would like to see, Kaushal focussed on national projects and their implementation. He said that there is a growing emphasis on ownership, as seen in the increase of public investment in infrastructure.

“ At the state level, some of them have very smartly followed and toed the line. Still, others sometimes may not be as fast, and maybe that is the area that national projects and their implementation — which is a key phase of this government — should be more streamlined,” he said.