India and the high-tech industry have been courting one another for decades. As multinational companies scanned the world for low-cost manufacturing regions, India was often mentioned in the same breath as China. Although China has clearly dominated in low-cost production, technology companies are slowly moving into India, which represents a major opportunity for consumer electronics companies.
This week, Japan’s Mitsubishi Electric Corp. announced it would expand its factory automation (FA) facility in Pune, India. Scheduled for launch on March 1, the Indian FA Development Center will develop programmable logic controllers and human machine interfaces by collaborating with Mitsubishi Electric India's marketing division. Also, it will develop basic technologies common to diverse FA products in cooperation with Mitsubishi Electric FA development centers worldwide, including the European Center in Dusseldorf, Germany, the North American Centers in Boston and Chicago, and the China Design Center in Dalian, China.
Mitsubishi Electric has been strengthening its Indian business through measures including the acquisition of a local FA manufacturer in 2012. The company aims to grow in line with India's rapidly expanding FA market, especially in the fields of automotive, textiles, pharmaceuticals and food and beverage.
