'Over 90 percent of what we produce in India is localised'

Ashwath Ram, Managing Director of Cummins India thinks China plus one strategy works as it offers a rare opportunity to attract business by means of ease of doing business and provide them with high quality, tech-oriented products. He shared more on this with Shruti Mishra.

- Shruti Mishra

Cummins India, a BSE-listed company, has gradually shifted its focus from being a diesel engine behemoth to a zero-carbon-emission engine provider. The company is diversifying its presence in Hydrogen ICE and electrolyzers domain and also sending strong signals about its intention to make India a manufacturing hub of these new technologies. "India can produce the best value from an end customer perspective, which in some cases, translates into the best cost," Ashwath Ram, Managing Director of Cummins India shared its thoughts in an exclusive interview with Autocar Professional.

How has Cummins India progressed from a pure-play diesel engine manufacturer to a zero-carbon engine company?

It's a very exciting time for Cummins in India. Last year, we celebrated our 60th anniversary here and in time frame we have grown from a small company based out of Pune nearly to a US $3 billion organisation today, catering to the needs of multiple market segments, both domestic and overseas.

In the last 10 years, Cummins has invested close to a billion dollars in the Indian market in the existing as well as electric and hydrogen technologies for the mobility sector. We have a direct employee base of 12,000 people and have established 21 factories spread across the country. Additionally, we have the most state-of-the-art tech centre in Pune where 2,500 professional engineering staff are working on introducing zero carbon solutions while improving the current diesel platforms. Over 70 percent of the work being done in that tech centre is for the export market.

In addition, 36 percent of our workforce are women and it's our ambition to take their share to 50 percent. We have introduced and localised almost every technology that Cummins has around the world into India along the way. Going forward, we are actively working on launching sustainable solutions in India, such as fuel agnostic engines, hydrogen ICE etc.