1 April, 2011

Havells opened its new European headquarters in London with a view to expand business prospects. Earlier in 2007 Havells tookover Sylvania, a failing business and turned it around. Havells India with an annual global turnover of USD 1.2 billion manufactures & sells electrical and power distribution equipments.

Mr. Anil Gupta, Joint Managing Director of Havells India Ltd said, “We are very bullish about the future prospects of business here. While most of the companies are trying to cut jobs in Europe, we are actually looking at expanding our base here. In the last one year, we have hired 60 to 70 people in sales,” adding the company has 1,850 employees in Europe, including 300 in the UK.

Earlier the European headquarters of the company was in Germany, but it has been shifted to London, where a lot of innovation is being done. The company has spent £6 million on Research and Development in the UK. Havells has four plants in Europe, one in the UK, one in Belgium, one in France, one in Germany, two in Latin America and nine in India.

Havells India continues to do very well in India. Mr. Gupta said Havells India was in the No. 1 position in the domestic switchgear and cable and wire segments and one of the top three in the lighting segment.