Zebra Technologies says India can drive APAC revenue

MUMBAI, INDIA: US-based Zebra Technologies, the leader in automatic identification and data capture (AIDC) solutions is banking on India to drive growth in the Asia Pacific region. It is exploring various strategic options to increase revenues from India in next 2-3 years.

“Our vision is to achieve 15-20 percent revenue contribution from India to the APAC region by 2014,” Andrew Tay, Zebra Technologies' president — Asia Pacific, told CyberMedia News in Mumbai on the sidelines of company's product launch.

“India plays a strategic role for Zebra Technologies in the APAC region. The region contributes around 15 percent to the worldwide revenues of company in 2011. However, India's contribution to APAC region is merely 8 percent compared to China's 50-55 percent,” Tay said.

Further he said, “We want to sustain higher growth in India by focusing on verticals like government, healthcare, mobility, retail, transport & logistics (TL) and sales force automation (SFA).”

It was Tay's leadership and his five-year planning that helped company to grow APAC revenue from less than 6 percent to 15 percent in 2011. Today, the company has 23 offices in the region with more than 250 staff.

As per the five year vision, Tay shared his progressive views for India that include expansion of operations in the country. “India plays a strategic role in this region, so we don't want to just open sales offices but want to have fulfledged service and support for customers.”

“It's my ambition to have second R&D center, hopefully in India. It is a very buoyant market and as competitive as China market today,” Tay said.

“The plan for R&D center is a progressive view and is part of company's road map for next 2-3 years,” Sachin Tare, Zebra Technologies' head — Indian Subcontinent added.

The company has set up a R&D center outside the US in Shanghai, China.

The NASDAQ listed firm is looking at new options such as setting up manufacturing or assembly facility in India. “We are in talks with some consultants to provide a feasibility report over the next one year that will help in evaluating those options,” Tay commented.

In the past few years, Zebra Technologies' India unit has clocked around 50 percent growth. It reported an annual 41.5 percent growth in 2010-11.

“We don't just sell hardware but we work with solution providers (SPs) and independent software vendors (ISVs) to provide software and printing solutions focusing on the ecosystem of six verticals,” he concluded.