Business Today (June 05, 2005)
Author: Arnab Mitra Additional Reporting By Rahul Sachitanand
Linked as:Summary
When you have been in India as long as Scott Bayman has, presumably, seen it all, and the market evolves to a point where you are suddenly looking at opportunities, big ones, it does something to you. And so, it doesn't surprise this writer when the man, now 58, and President & CEO of GE India for the past 12 years, literally bounds into the room, the mandatory can of Diet Coke in his hand (he doesn't drink coffee; then, CEO Jeff Immelt has been known to never sit in on a meeting unless he has one of these handy).
Ask Bayman whether the way he and India are now treated at Fairfield, Connecticut, GE's headquarters, have changed as the country has moved from a market with great potential to a source of knowledge, expertise and backroom shared services (think business process outsourcing; GE India wrote the book on that one) to a market that is beginning to live up to its potential (finally!) and the answer comes back as quickly. "Absolutely", he thumps the table and proceeds to rattle off "anecdotal evidence" to the effect. The number of global heads of GE businesses that have visited India since the beginning of 2005 (significant, and Chairman and CEO Jeff Immelt is scheduled to be here in late-May). And the number of executives of other multinational firms seeking to do business in India that have approached him for a download of what GE knows on the country. "And none of these guys want to speak about GECIS," he smiles referring to GE Capital International Services, the BPO in which the company sold a 60 per cent stake last year to a combine of private equity investors.See the full content of this document
Extract
Ge's Indian Summer ; It May Finance Air-India's $7-Billion Boeing Deal, Is Looking to Launch or Acquire a Bank, and Expecting Big Business From the Power Sector. If All Goes Well, Ge's Indian Arm Will Be a $5-Billion Company by 2010.
That others should approach GE for its take on doing business in India shouldn't surprise anyone. The company has progressed from being just another multinational carried away by the hype surrounding India to a pioneer in outsourcing work, even high-end knowledge-intensive tasks, to the country to a conglomerate looking at significant business deals and opportunities across its businesses.
There's Air-India's $7-billion (Rs 30,800-crore) deal to acquire 50 aircraft from Boeing that GE Commercial Aviation Services (GECAS) may finance. GE Money has recently entered the Rs 66,000-crore mortgages market and will soon either acquire a bank or start one afresh. GE's energy division is looking to do business worth $2 billion (Rs 8,800 crore) by 2009. "We see India as a rising star," says Immelt. "We think we are at the beginning of a growth cycle here." (See "India Is A Rising Star", Page 58) Bayman has thought so too, since November last.The Third WaveWhen GE entered India in 1993 (the company has been doing business in India since 1902, ...See the full content of this document
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