'We hope to generate $1 bn out of India'

What are your plans in India?



We look at India as a strategic location for our presence in the Asian

region. First focus is to have appropriate manufacturing facilities at the right

locations. This we are already doing with the acquisition of Celetronix, a

leading manufacturer of electronic products. This has expanded our presence in

Mumbai and Chennai, in addition to existing facility in Ranjangaon. Second focus

is on hiring and training of management team, we plan to create 8-10% employment

in addition to the existing base of 5,500 employees. Today we have the largest

manufacturing facility based in Ranjangaon spanning across 175,000 sq ft,

followed by 100,000 sq ft facility in Pimpri, 55,000 sq ft Chennai facility. Now

with the Celetronix acquisition in Mumbai and Chennai, we have roughly 400,000

sq ft giving us a commanding presence in India over other competitors.

How much have you invested in Indian facilities?



Our intent is to invest over $100 mn over the next couple of years to

facilitate the recent acquisition and get the plants working in full capacity.

We hope that once fully operational, over $1 bn revenue will be generated in

less than five years from India alone.

Would you tell us in detail about your facilities?



The Chennai facility is heavily focused on communication related products,

mainly mobile handsets. The Mumbai facility caters to two demands, set top boxes

(STBs) and power supply for various applications. Ranjangaon has a diverse

portfolio ranging from activities supporting consumer business, medical

instrumentation, consumer electronics and STBs. The Ranjangaon facility was

built by us entirely with an investment of $20 mn.

How different are these facilities from any other Jabil

manufacturing centre elsewhere?



In terms of look, level of investment and scale of infrastructure, it's

the same as any other Jabil manufacturing facility, say in China or Europe.

After the acquisition of Celetronix's facilities we are heavily investing in

bringing a uniformity of our Indian facilities. These would include ERP, common

base process, and other infrastructure additions.

How is the revenue split between various business units

of Jabil?



Maximum revenue comes from consumer business of 36% followed by 17% from

medical instrumentation. Networking contributes 13% while telcom generates only

6%. Computing and storage revenue contributes 11%, peripheral business gives 7%,

automation generates 5%, and other services 5% to our total revenue.

How do you explain lesser revenue generated from telecom

and networking?



Prior to 2000, these two verticals were among the key contributors. However,

post telecom crash, our customers in telecom space didn't do well and

weren't growing at a healthy rate. We didn't lose any of our customers but

we began to diversify our businesses into area like medical instrumentation.

That explains the decline in the revenue from telecom and networking, but now as

the sector has revived and booming, we expect these figures to change

dramatically. We expect $9.9 bn revenue this year.

Malovika Rao



malovikar@cybermedia.co.in