Pentair bullish on Indian market; eyes new areas for growth

Swiss firm Pentair that provides a range of services and products to various industrial sectors is betting on the Indian market notwithstanding the current slowdown and is exploring new opportunities in repair and replacement of aging equipment.

"The country has immense growth potential due to its growing population and wealth. We are betting on this country as it will be getting better in terms of growth and profitability in the years to come," Pentair Vice-President (Global Growth) Jerome O Pedretti told PTI.

The USD 7.5 billion firm is present in India since 1998 and caters to a variety of sectors by providing solutions to host of industries from petrochemical entities to water filtration needs of residential and commercial projects.

"There is lot of investment going on in sectors like oil and gas and also there is huge scope for water filtration projects in the country," Pentair India Managing Director and Country Head Mukund Vasudevan said.

Bullish on the Indian market, he said: "Even in a slowing market, we can sustain growth by doing well in the niche areas. We continue to grow the double of GDP growth in India and in the next five years would like to sustain such levels of growth."

He, however, did not disclose financial details of the company's operations in India.
Since only about 10 per cent of the people in the country have access to pure drinking water, the water filtration segment offers huge scope for growth, he added.

"We are also looking at new business models like service and replacement of aging equipment, across the various segments in which we operate," Vasudevan said.

The company, whose customers in India include firms like ONGC, ITC and Delhi Metro, aims to grow ahead of the country's GDP growth.

India along with other fast growth countries like China, Russia, Brazil, Middle East and South East Asia contribute around 25 per cent to Pentair's global revenues.
The company, which employs around 30,000 globally, has over 1,500 people working for it in India.