United Technologies Corp. Chairman Louis Chenevert said Tuesday the diversified Hartford manufacturer expects to grow its India revenue by 20 percent this year from about $500 million in 2009 and has set a 2015 target of $2.5 billion, Reuters reports.
UTC makes Pratt & Whitney jet engines and rocket motors, Otis elevators, Sikorsky helicopters and Carrier air-conditioning systems plus fire and security systems.
Chenevert said UTC had set a target for Otis to have $1 billion in India sales by 2015.
“Fact is, the numbers in India are very compelling as far as the growing middle class, the largest work force in the world for a nation,” Chenevert, who became company chairman in January, told journalists.
“And they all want to adopt modern life,” he said at the company’s newly-opened office in New Delhi’s central business district.
He said it took the company 10 years to grow revenues in China to $3 billion from $500 million, but growth in India would be “faster”.
“I think the helicopter opportunities are numerous and all this infrastructure that’s being built will create strong opportunities,” he said of the Indian market.
United Tech’s Sikorsky Aircraft Corp is eyeing defense deals worth $8 billion to $12 billion in India by 2018 and plans to manufacture its Black Hawk helicopters locally, the company said in February.
New Delhi plans to spend $100 billion over the next decade to overhaul its Soviet-era defense system.
Vice President Steve Estill on Tuesday said they were talking to two companies in India, including the state-run Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd, to jointly develop military products.
Chenevert said UTC was focusing on increasing localization of its products in India and would continue to forge partnerships with Indian firms.
“I truly believe also that you can only win in this market if you localize as much as you can,” he said.
A company of India’s Tata Group makes cabins for Sikorsky S-92 helicopters under a 2009 agreement between the companies.
