DuPont to double R&D spend in India
Mumbai: The $38-billion Du-Pont expects India to be
among the top five revenue contributors in the next threefour years as the
global growth axis tilts from the West to Asia. At present, India is among the
top 10 revenue contributors to the sciencebased products and services
multinational, with emerging markets contributing 38%.
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Low-penetration, strong
economic growth indicators and enhanced focus on research and development
(R&D) are some of the factors that would help DuPont grow faster than
the market, its global chairperson and CEO, Ellen Kullman told TOI. The
57-year-old Kullman, who is on a brief visit to India to take stock of the
Indian operations, besides meeting the local management and industry
leaders, said she would like to set the bar high on growth in India.
DuPont, best known as the creator of Teflon
fluoropolymer coating, has been operating in India since the early ’90s and
its 2012 revenue was $800 million. “We will double our research and
development activities in India. We really need to bring science locally to
the Indian industry. Despite science being global, solutions have to be
local and that’s why we are expanding innovation and R&D centres. Our
centres in India would not only address local issues but their solutions
would apply to global markets as well,’’ said Kullman, who is the 19th
executive to lead the company in DuPont’s history, and its first woman to
chair the board.
The focus at its Hyderabad and Pune centres would
be discovery and application of new technologies that would help improve
lives. The NYSElisted DuPont spends about 5% of its revenues on R&D.
Kullman believes that organic growth will be the way forward for DuPont in
India but it will not shy away from acquisitions if an interesting
opportunity comes up such as the one on cotton seeds. Three years ago, it
snapped up Nandi seeds and the cotton germplasm business of Nagarjuna seeds
that marked its foray into the cotton seeds business.
“You have to have a solid base of organic growth
from which you can grow from. Along the way, if you find opportunities for
inorganic growth then you take a look at them,” Kullman said. Recently,
there was speculation that DuPont may form an alliance with a large
domestic agribusiness company but the former denied of any such move.
A challenge that could pose a hurdle in its growth
is the volatile regulatory environment. Kullman said Du-Pont was concerned
about the regulatory environment in India, because the company has to work
within this environment given its connectivity with farmers on agriculture
related products, among others. The over 200-year-old organization has
evolved over the years from being called a “chemistry” company to adapt a
broader definition of being a science company in a bid to open up various
possibilities for the future.
Namrata Singh & Reeba Zachari
TOI 130130
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