Japanese conglomerate HORIBA's Chairman-CEO says time apt for upping investments in India

New Delhi [India], July 6 : Japan-headquartered conglomerate HORIBA Group, which already has two manufacturing units in India on Saturday launched its third and one of the largest medical equipment and consumables manufacturing facility in Nagpur.
In an exclusive interaction with ANI, Atsushi Horiba, Chairman and Group CEO, HORIBA said that it's the right time for his Group to increase investments in India.
"Timing is very important for us to invest in India. Now I feel this is the time for us to invest in India. We already have quite a good number of businesses in India, but I think we have to accelerate," Horiba said in the interaction with ANI.
Horiba says India is growing rapidly and that's why it decided to invest in a new plant at Nagpur which will not only boost Make in India but also have R&D and innovations facilities.
"India is growing very rapidly. And not only that but you have high potential with the people (the country have). So we are not only interested in having a business but also enhancing our R&D capability," Horiba said.
With global headquarters in Kyoto, Japan, the 50 group companies HORIBA operates in 29 countries and regions worldwide, and has a global business revenue of USD 2.3 billion.
Japanese conglomerate believes that government policies and demography of the country are reasons for investments in India. The Nagpur plant has manufacturing, R&D and innovation facilities.
On why they chose Nagpur and not any coastal town with port connectivity for setting up the new plant, Jai Hakhu, Chairman - HORIBA India, said, "We chose Nagpur because it is the central location in India and the manufactured items can be equally distributed."... I don't need ports. I just need transport to supply across India," Hakhu said.
The cost of the just-launched Nagpur plant is pegged at Rs 200 crore, Haiku said, adding that they were open to investing as much as needed going forward.
Over 90 per cent of the manufactured equipments from the Nagpur plant will be used for domestic markets and remaining 10 per cent will be exported, in neighbourhood countries, Hakhu added
The Nagpur unit will start with production of Reagents, and going forward the Group aims to foray into other hematology-focused medical device manufacturing in India.
Hakhu said they have a dominant position in India in all the fields they operates, and not just limited to medical.
"We are manufacturing mass flow controllers, a critical component needed for semiconductor production," Hakhu added.
HORIBA claimed that it has over 60 per cent market share in mass flow controller production globally. A mass flow controller typically is a device used to measure and control the flow of liquids and gases.
"...and that's a very critical component in fab, and we intend to and we have started small in Pune but we have enough land in Nagpur to build a full fledge factory to meet the demands for the next five to ten years," Hakhu said. Right now, Horiba is focusing only on this critical component - mass flow controller.
"Our philosophy is to do what we best do and not go everywhere else. And if we supply this (mass flow controller), we will be in great shape."
On India-Japan Act East Forum, and whether Horiba has plans to invest in the eastern and north-eastern part of India, the regions which desperately need more industries, Hakhu said,
"Our philosophy is that we follow where the fabs are. For example we recently opened an office in Gujarat because of the fabs. For the northeast region, it will be the same."
Act East Forum was set up following the meeting between Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the then Prime Minister Shinzo Abe in 2017 with two main objectives -- the development of the north-eastern region of India and to promote connectivity within this region and between this region and South-East Asia.
HORIBA started its direct operations in India in 2006 with its head office in Delhi and is present across Bangalore, Chennai, Kolkata and Ahmedabad. The company has two manufacturing facilities in Haridwar and Pune.
The HORIBA group is broadly focused in the business of automotive, process and environmental instruments, medical diagnostics, critical component for semiconductors, and scientific instruments.