Driving Transformation!

Jan Gurander, Global Deputy CEO, AB Volvo Group, was in India sometime back. The Machinist magazine caught up with him to understand why he is impressed with the speed at which India is transforming.

- Niranjan Mudholkar

What’s your personal perception of India?

I try to be in India once or twice a year. It is a very interesting and a fascinating market in more than one ways. First and foremost, it is a welcoming country to come to, with its very nice and warm people. Secondly, you also find a lot of competency. Indeed, people here are very talented. Third, I am equally impressed with the speed with which the country is transforming. The agility and the frugal way of working are things that stand out for me. India is a huge country; it’s almost like a continent, and imagine it going through an interesting transition. Even though as I hear that the GDP growth rate has relatively moderated in the recent quarters, it is clearly one of the fastest growing large economies. Also, when we look at the investments happening in terms of infrastructure and all the bold structural reforms that are taking place, I think these will make the society more efficient going forward. So, clearly India is a country with huge potential and promise.

Talking from the Group’s perspective, how do you see the India market?

It is fantastic! We are obviously active with our Volvo branded trucks, construction equipment, buses and also Penta engines in this market. In fact, that’s what many people think about first and foremost when they think about the Volvo Group. But, obviously we are serving this large market in different ways with different products and services for different end usages, duty cycles and applications. We have a great partnership (JV) with the Eicher Group and our JV is now up into the 11th year of successful collaboration. It is indeed developing very well. This partnership has allowed us to bring not one but two truck and bus brands in this country.