ROSS CONTROLS IN INDIA

Ross Controls India Pvt Ltd, a 100% subsidiary of Ross Controls USA started operations in India an year ago. The company is well known the world over for safety related pneumatic systems. Though Ross products have been present in India for the last 40 years, the company did not have a full-fledged presence so far.

Ross Controls is a global manufacturer of pneumatic valves, control systems and safety products. Ross products are used wherever compressed air is used to perform a work process, specially in the core sector and in heavy industries like steel plants, Aluminium Smeltors, metal foaming, packaging and plastics. It is a very specialised product, and in lay terms, wherever there is need for safety in all the industries mentioned above, there is use for pneumatic equipments.

According to A K Banerjee, Managing Director, Ross Controls India Pvt Ltd, Ross has had a huge customer base in India for the last 40 years. Most companies were buying machines fitted with Ross products and so the replacements had to come from Ross. Ross came as a liasion office three years back and it got the Foreign Investment Approval Board (FIPB) approval last year to set up its factory in India.

As of now, the company is sourcing its products from its associates in USA, UK, Germany, Japan, Brazil and China and doing the assembling. Later the company plans to manufacture and export some of its products from its manufacturing facility in India. According to S Natarajan, Finance Controller, Ross Controls India, the market for pneumatic systems in India is around Rs 150 crore currently, but as automation and application of robotics increases the market potential can be mind blowing. Also with hydraulic applications getting converted into pneumatics, the prospects are endless.

And what is the reason Ross decided to set up shop in India? The reason again according to Natarajan is the huge market potential and of course the cost effectiveness of components and labour. The company will be looking at 60% localisation in terms of component sourcing in the long run.

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