Passage to India
Videocon, the owner of Piaseczno-based Thomson Displays, wants to restructure its existing factory and launch the production of modern LCD panels. The company has been in talks with the Ministry of Economy about possible incentives for the project.
"We have already handed our vision of the project to the Polish government and we are awaiting a reply. We have similar projects in Italy and China, and the Chinese government has already offered us a grant worth some 30 percent of the investment," said Rajkumar Dhoot, Videocon's CEO, in an interview with Gazeta Wyborcza.
Prior to initiating the investment, Dhoot plans to close one of the three existing assembly lines and lay off 970 of the current employees. According to the CEO, trade unions representing employees affected by the changes are demanding excessive compensation.
"Before we invest here the factory has to generate profits for two years. It would be good to have government help in the restructurization process," added Dhoot. With government assistance, the development could span 24 months at most and generate as many as 15,000 jobs down the line.
Videocon's plans seem to fit into the Indian government's economic strategy. According to Gopal Krishna, Joint Secretary of India's Ministry of Commerce and Industry, upon having achieved GDP growth close to 10 percent, Indian companies feel the need to go global and integrate with other economies. They want to offer their know-how and technologies in the automotive, pharmaceutical and IT sectors in return for assistance from abroad in other industries. Poland is one country that has experience in sectors in which India would like to see improvement.
"Throughout the years Poland has gained know-how that India could benefit from. Exploration of natural resources and the manufacturing industry are two sectors in which we would gladly see Polish companies invest in India," says Krishna.
Poland's Ministry of Economy says that Polish investment in India is negligible. Last year Poland sold $200 (zł.567.4) million worth of commodities to India - over 1.5 times more than in 2005. However, Polish and Indian entrepreneurs have bigger plans for the future, as many Polish firms have expressed interest in bringing in workers from India. India has said it wants Poland's help in building the infrastructure necessary for the 2010 Asian Games and hopes to return the favor by helping Poland prepare for the Euro 2012 soccer championship.
