Farnell to invest Rs 250-mn in India

Bangalore: Premier Farnell, the multi-channel distributor of electronic components and services, is all set to invest Rs 25 crore in India over the next three years as part of its business expansion plan.

The UK-based company's Indian subsidiary — Farnell Electronics India Pvt Ltd — will pump in money on building IT infrastructure, improving supply-chain, increasing personnel, setting up an electronic design innovation laboratory and establishing a warehouse in the country.

Headquartered in Bangalore and presently operating in seven other locations, including Mumbai and Hyderabad, the company recently acquired Hynetic Electronics Pvt Ltd, the Indian semiconductor distributor, for 1 million pounds.

'We are quite excited about India as we will be supporting the critical manufacturing activity in the engineering sector here. Every year, about 300,000 engineers graduate from Indian universities and get into manufacturing. We will support the total market with our products,' said Harriet Green, CEO, Premier Farnell, during a press conference.

The company, she said, has stocked over 430,000 products sourced from over 3,500 suppliers from across the world. The products' range comprises semiconductors, opto-electronics, prototyping and accessories, connectors, electromechanical, automation, power tools, soldering, switches, wires and sensors.

The company plans to supply to 100,000 small and medium electrical, electronic and industrial consumers in the country. The key target areas identified by the company are infrastructure, transportation, medical, petrochemicals, marine technology and education. 'We hope to net Rs 100 crore revenue by 2010,' said Farnell India director Ravi Pagar.