Baba Kalyani Companies Quotations

The most important part of any acquisition is your ability to culturally integrate the people in the companies you acquire and your company.

Bofors was a steelmaker that became a forgings company and then went on to build guns. Companies like Krupp and Thyssen were in steel and forgings before entering defence. There are similar examples in the U.K.; it is a natural progression.

From an operational perspective, exports challenge companies to design, develop, manufacture and supply products to discerning customers in global markets. This, in turn, motivates companies to scale up the value chain, which results in higher realisations.

I am sick and tired of the process where everybody tells you that Indian companies don't have the technology and capability. We need to put money where our mouth is and make things happen, and that is what we are trying to do.

Our strategy should be based on indigenisation and import substitution. The government must provide opportunities for domestic companies to participate in sectors in which the country continues to depend on imports.

The emphasis on innovation and technology in our companies has resulted in a few of them establishing global benchmarks in product design and development, manufacturing practices and human resource capabilities. However, there is no room for complacency.

We passionately set up a programme that we call the Indian gun programme. I challenged Colonel Bhatia, who heads our defence business, that let's build an Indian gun. There's a belief that Indian companies aren't capable of this, and we want to prove them wrong, as we did in components.

With liberalisation, Indian industry gained international exposure because of which it became imperative for companies to rework their strategies to become globally competitive.