Thaindian News

Helsinki (Finland), April 17 (IANS) Ensto, a Finland-based provider of sustainable energy solutions, considers India as a more important market than China and plans to expand its business in the Indian subcontinent in the coming months.

“India is probably the more important market for us as compared to China. It is because of the highly competitive market and big demand for our products there. Besides, the higher growth and future potential in the segment of renewable resources in India also provides a conducive environment for business growth,” Timo Luukkainen, CEO and president of Ensto group, told IANS.

Founded in 1958, privately-owned family company Ensto provides solutions to support sustainable energy production, distribution and consumption.

Headquartered in Finland’s Porvoo city, it operates in 20 countries and has a turnover of around 240 million euros. The group recently set up a factory in Manesar in Haryana’s Gurgaon district, some 30 km from New Delhi.

“Right now our Indian plant is very, very new for us. It is a small factory where around 25 people work. But we have plans to expand our business, increase the size of the plant and put in more investment. We would make an investment of around two million euros in the machinery at the Manesar plant in the coming months,” Luukkainen said.

Ensto would focus only on medium or low voltage products at the Manesar plant, unless some big acquisition takes place, he said.

Ensto’s biggest Indian client is energy company BSES Yamuna Power.

“Ensto’s product line is adapted to the local needs and in the first phase, the main market area will be India. Besides manufacturing, our Indian unit is also responsible for the product development and logistics,” said Luukkainen.

“A certain share of components assembled in India are imported from Finland. However, due to the favourable cost level, possibilities to use local sub-contractors are also being explored continuously,” he added.

However, Luukkainen also expressed unhappiness over red-tapism in India.

“We faced some difficulties while dealing with the authorities in India. There were a few delays that can be easily avoided. The Indian government also took a long time for giving approvals to various things,” he said.

The feedback from the firm’s clients in India has been positive, a company official said.

Juhani Hovilehto, president of Ensto’s India operations, said: “Feedback from our customers has been extremely encouraging. They are clearly interested in our high-tech products and cost-effective, quickly and easily installed solutions, which can be customised whenever the need arises.”

“The enormous Indian market is an interesting new challenge for Ensto’s network building,” he added.

(Alkesh Sharma can be contacted at alkesh.s@ians.in)