If we can build & deliver in India, we can replicate it worldwide: Cedrik Neike

German engineering and technology major Siemens AG is working to take ‘Make in India’ to the next level — ‘Made in India for the World’ by incubating technology and manufacturing in India, said Cedrik Neike, member of the global managing board, with special responsibilities for Asia and Australia, and energy management division, in an interview to Rachita Prasad. The company has set up a $1-billion investment arm now scouting for opportunities to invest in startups in India. Edited excerpts:You have made 14 trips to India in the last two years. How important is India for Siemens AG? The last few years have been challenging for most businesses and Siemens has felt it too. Are things looking up now?We look at investments with medium- to long-term view. India investments are on the right trajectory. In the short term, Siemens India has delivered what it promised. India will play an absolutely critical role in Siemens globally. Firstly, it is because of the development of India itself in building infrastructure for renewable energy, electricity distribution and mobility. The second is modern infrastructure in digital industries. There has been some slowdown in the short term. The large orders have not been coming. But the base business has healthy growth and we just need these big infrastructure projects to accelerate that. Secondly, India is extremely important for us because if we can build and deliver a system, solution or product in India, we can replicate it worldwide. Our idea is not restricted to ‘Make in India’ but it is ‘Made in India for the World.’ We have 22 factories and want to export from them and that’s what we are investigating and investing in.Siemens AG is expanding the digital business and has upgraded the guidance for it. You have launched this in India too. By when will it start contributing significantly to the global revenue?Siemens is the tenth biggest software company, and the biggest industrial software company, in the world. Our software business is growing two to three times faster than the rest of the business. We invested massively; €10 billion over the last couple of years to acquire a lot of software capabilities. And we are using India on a worldwide basis to develop this business. We challenged the India team and they have stepped up.What is the key growth driver for India? And, what are the challenges?Our renewable generation business from Siemens Gamesa is doing extremely well. The opportunity which could grow faster is in the coal power sector with upgradation of plant to make them cleaner. Power transmission has grown. Now we need to make sure power distribution grows too. India’s manufacturing growth has to become ‘Industry 4.0,’ if not, then, it will be overtaken by Vietnam, China and others. The Indian government has done a lot of good things, but we need stability in terms of directions for growth; rest of the other elements are here.You have been meeting startups in countries across the world. Do you envisage any possible investments or collaborations in India?We have set up an arm, ‘Next47,’ with funds of over €1 billion to be invested in startups. The head is actually an Indian national. We have put in place a team for India and are looking at investment opportunities. We can bring wealth to Indian startups, and they can bring us innovation. We want to invest in them, collaborate with them, and even spin out startups from our own people.Siemens AG had said in 2015 that it will invest €1 billion in India over the next few years. How is that coming along?We are on track on this €1 billion spend. We would complete it in another 2-3 years. It could be accelerated if legislation, infrastructure investment and industry support it.The European Union blocked the merger between Siemens and Alstom to consolidate railways business. What next?We would have loved for the deal to go through, but it did not. The great news is our mobility business is doing extremely well. But we are going to take out time to look at the options, because this was the option we were working on and didn’t have an option B. The board is looking for an option with healthy assets. India is a good example; a lot is happening here in terms of metros which have been built, and that's continuing. As India will continue to electrify its fleet and build one more highspeed trains, we want to participate in it.

from Economic Times http://bit.ly/2UZUr5H