Daimler AG has been active in the commercial vehicle business in India since the 1950s. However, it only started manufacturing in the country in 2012 through its subsidiary Daimler India Commercial Vehicles (DICV). And since then there has been no looking back. The Dollar Business caught up with Erich Nesselhauf, MD & CEO, DICV, to know the secret to DICV's success.
TDB: Daimler has been in the Indian market since the 1950s. How has the journey been so far?
Erich Nesselhauf (EN): The 1950s marked our maiden entry into the Indian market. For an entire decade, we worked in cooperation with Tata Group to produce Mercedes-Benz trucks for the domestic market. Speaking about Daimler India Commercial Vehicles (DICV), our journey actually began in 2009 when the company was founded. By the way, India is also home to several other Daimler group companies, like Mercedes-Benz India headquartered in Pune, Mercedes-Benz Research & Development India headquartered in Bangalore, and Daimler Financial Services India headquartered in Chennai.
DICV had to overcome many challenges before opening a manufacturing plant and starting truck production in 2012. True to our vision to revolutionise the Indian commercial vehicle industry, we have achieved an unprecedented manufacturing scale. Earlier this year,we reached a major milestone with the 50,000th vehicle rolling off the line at our truck manufacturing plant.
TDB: Has Indian government been able to create a congenial environment for foreign automobile manufacturers?
EN: As far as Daimler India Commercial Vehicles (we have our home base in Tamil Nadu) is concerned, it will not be an exaggeration to say that the government support has been very encouraging – otherwise we would not have been able to complete the construction of our manufacturing plant in just two years, which is an excellent time for a greenfield project.
TDB: What kind of competition do you face from other manufacturers? And how do you plan to maintain your competitive edge going forward?
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Denne historien er fra December 2016-utgaven av The Dollar Business.
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'We Are One Of India's Biggest Trade Partners'
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New-gen Newsmakers
The Dollar Business Celebrates the Success of Rising Stars of Indian Foreign Trade for Them the Sky Is No Limit, It’s Just a Direction!
We Will Be Exporting to 30 Markets From India by End of 2016
Daimler AG has been active in the commercial vehicle business in India since the 1950s. However, it only started manufacturing in the country in 2012 through its subsidiary Daimler India Commercial Vehicles (DICV). And since then there has been no looking back. The Dollar Business caught up with Erich Nesselhauf, MD & CEO, DICV, to know the secret to DICV's success.
Rcep Can Boost Business Across a Large Region
New Zealand and India have a lot in common – from their love for cricket to their Commonwealth heritage and much more. Despite this the bilateral trade between the two countries is yet to live up to its potential. In an exclusive interaction with The Dollar Business, Grahame Morton, High Commissioner of New Zealand to India, talks about various ways to improve social, political and trade ties between the two nations.
MEIS: When Change Is the Only Constant
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FTP Mid - Term Review : Will Exporters Woes Continue?
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Exporters Find It Tough To Honour High Volume Commitments
Agricultural and Processed Food Products Export Development Authority (APEDA), established in 1985, has been instrumental in identifying new markets and providing better support systems to exporters of agricultural and processed food products. In a tête-à-tête with The Dollar Business, Devendra Kumar Singh, Chairman of APEDA, throws light on the various initiatives that APEDA is taking up to give exports a boost.
Can India's Outsourcing Industry Survive The Trump Attack?
Uncertainty has descended upon the $150-billion Indian outsourcing industry in anticipation of the protectionist regime under President Trump. Protectionism has been a popular election rhetoric across nations, and more so in recent times. And the voting masses seem to like it. Will Trump’s campaign cry for protectionism cross the boundaries of poetic drama and come alive as laws? There is no doubt that US being the largest consumer nation in the world, governments across the globe will keep a close watch on Trump’s policies. India will be no exception. The hot-button topic for India – ‘outsourcing’, has surfaced again and the impact of Trump’s announcements, be it restrictions on H-1B visas or penal taxes on US companies for outsourcing jobs, is being felt already in India. And this, coming during times when India's outsourcing industry has been experiencing a rough patch isn't an encouraging development. How hard will an avalanche of protectionist measures from the Trump regime hit India's outsourcing industry?
Our Sourcing From India Will Double In The Next Few Years
It's a known fact that the Indian government is working hard to increase defence and aerospace procurement from indigenous sources – from the current 40% to 70%, in the next 10 years. The Dollar Business recently caught up with Pratyush Kumar, President, Boeing India, to understand how manufacturers in India can leverage growth opportunities and what makes India a preferred sourcing destination for the American aircraft-maker.
