Philips global CEO Frans Van Houten has said that the consumer durables giant will invest as much as Rs 300 crore in India. It also plans to hire 1,500 people in the country. The company will expand its Pune facilities, said the CEO.
“I would mention the importance of our Innovation Centre in Bengaluru, where most of our software resources reside. We are also expanding our Global Business Services Hub in Chennai, so overall employment for Philips in India is strong. We have a current plan to expand employment by at least 1,500 people,” said Van Houten in an interview to The Economic Times.
He said that Philips is focused on India as it believes that it is a great market to be in. Van Houten said that the company makes good use of the ‘lot of talent’ that’s there in India. The Philips CEO also believes that a lot of local manufacturing will come to the country. “We will see more local manufacturing coming to India because the market is important and there is a good workforce,” he said, adding that they are expanding their Pune facility and ensuring more manufacturing there.
Van Houten said that the pandemic has seen an upheaval in terms of their production. In the first quarter last year, they increased production of critical care equipment such as ventilators and monitors. “On one hand, we saw critical and acute care rise rapidly, on the other, we saw the more conventional business for elective procedures go down,” he said, adding that this year is opposite as regular care has come back.
He added that affordability of healthcare in India is an issue despite several schemes. “Access to care is something that has to be developed further. Also, getting in infrastructure that can cater for diseases at this kind of scale remains a challenge,” said Van Houten.
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