With the presence of all the global auto majors with their expanding operations, India is now reckoned as one of the largest automobile clusters in the world. FARO India, which develops and markets computer-aided co-ordinate measurement devices and software, has its global presence with its sustained efforts to make accurate, reliable and easy-to-use 3D measurement as well as documentation software packages.
Touching on the emerging opportunities for the company, Ms. Amrita Gokhale, Senior Marketing Specialist for FARO Business Technologies India (P) Ltd., said in an exclusive interaction with MOTORINDIA: “The Indian automotive industry is growing rapidly. India is emerging as the top contributor for us. A good proportion of our revenue comes from both the automotive and machine tools verticals. Maruti Suzuki, Hero MotoCorp, Unitech Engineers, JBM, Volkswagen, Kalyani Forge, etc., are some of our major clients.”
Referring to the other business verticals FARO is expanding into, she said: “We are expanding into wind energy and also shipbuilding. Currently, we offer 3D documentation services for the architecture industry as well. However, the automotive industry is still one of our core areas of focus.”
Emphasising that its extensive research and development activities offer an edge for FARO over others, she observed: “Service is very important after selling a product. So we collect feedback from our clients and send it to the R&D team. They evaluate and see how to effect further development. Product durability is one positive feedback that we receive from our clients.”
Tamil Nadu and Gujarat have already emerged as major industrial hubs for the automotive industry. Now, the Government’s ‘Make in India’ campaign has brought new players into the field. Though taxation and other statutory regulations have proved major deterrents, the overall scenario is now changing with the advent of this popular campaign.
Ms. Amrita further said: “As far as the commercial vehicle segment is concerned, Daimler is the top player. Companies like Ashok Leyland and Mahindra are giving tough competition to the market leader. For quite sometime, commercial vehicle manufacturing was so prevalent in northern India. Now the focus has shifted to the South which has proved a niche market for the commercial vehicle segment. There is also growing demand for related research and development in the sector”.
Asked about the company network, she said: “We have a direct sales network pan-India with a head office in New Delhi and a branch office in Chennai. There is also a full-fledged service centre in New Delhi that addresses important client issues.”