Panasonic aims to be tech solutions firm; Cisco expects India to clock 10% of revenue: Reports

Consumer electronics good maker Panasonic India is looking to transform itself into a technology solutions company in the near future, president and CEO Manish Sharma told The Times of India.

A subdivision of the Japanese Panasonic Corporation, Panasonic India has supposedly identified five key areas to drive its growth, including supply chain management solutions, consumer business, technology solutions for living spaces and energy business.

The home appliance giant expects an increase in sales from its consumer durable business while it hopes the technology solutions wing to account for 25% of B2B revenue in the next five years. 

Panasonic India had to be content with a marginal growth last financial year at Rs 10,300 crore, which was impacted by low demand and a weak rupee, among others. However, the company expects a 15% increase in revenue to Rs 12,000 crore for the current financial year.

Sharma added that they expect the B2B business to account for Rs 3,100 crore of the Rs 12,000 revenue for the current financial year.

The company had also recently merged its welding business and Surface Mount Technology vertical together in a bid to offer integrated smart manufacturing solutions.

"We would become a solutions technology company from being a product company. Of course, it would take many years but we would move towards that in the next five years’ time,” added Sharma.

Cisco 

Networking gear maker Cisco Systems Inc. expects India to account for about 10% of its global revenue in 5 to 10 years, CEO Chuck Robbins told the Press Trust of India.

Cisco, engaged with multiple government projects in the country, is bullish on prospects in India, where it has an employee base of over 10,000 workers.

“When you look at the position of India, the government, the stability, the belief in technology, we remain incredibly optimistic," he added.

Asked about his expectations from the new government, Robbins said, “Relative to all the initiatives that the government here is trying to drive, that naturally leads to more investment.”

“As long as we continue to see those kinds of opportunities, we will continue to invest here," he added.

Karnataka govt

In a big relief for IT companies in Karnataka, the state government has extended their exemption by five years from the Industrial Employment (Standing Orders) Act, The Economic Times said.

The Act monitors terms of employment, misconduct, publication of holidays, paydays, essential service, publication of wage rates and a host of other issues faced by employees. The IT industry says the Act was enacted in 1946 for factories and industries that did not have in place developed HR practices and policies.

The exemption is subject to companies having a committee in line with the Sexual Harassment of Women at Workplace Act, as well as an internal grievance redressal committee for employee complaints.

The exemption will also work only if the companies intimate the labour department of any disciplinary action undertaken against employees, as well as submit accurate information about service conditions as and when demanded by the labour department.

The previous exemption was issued on 25 January 2014 and an additional exemption got delayed due to the budget and general elections, the report stated.

The exemption also applies to startups, companies in animation, gaming, telecom and other industries that are knowledge-based.