‘We got a lot of support there’

Why China?
Besides good quality infrastructure, we were quite impressed by the single window clearance system for foreign investors. We received a lot of support from the Industrial Development Corporation of China. The single-window clearance department liaised with all other Chinese departments and got us all the permissions. We invested close to $48 million and now we have four manufacturing units in China, earning a revenue of close to $40-50 million.

You have units in India as well… where are we lagging behind?
The quality of infrastructure is very high in China and we cannot compare it with India. China is far ahead in terms of roads, and quality of power. We need to do a lot in terms of building out infrastructure as it is key to development of industries and generate employment.

How are your Chinese units performing?
Today we employ 400-500 people in China and we will invest more to increase our capacities. We are witnessing 15 per cent average growth per annum, which is quite good. We have local managers who are running the show and some Indians are also posted in various units.

Though language is a big barrier, we have overcome it by completely localising the units.