At a time when most IT firms are freezing recruitment, the research and development (R&D) arms of non-IT companies like GE, Chrysler and Volvo are in the ramp-up mode.
For instance, GE Global Research — the specialised technology development arm of General Electric Company (GE) — is planning to add up to 150 people on its rolls in Bangalore by end-2009. A spokesperson attached to GE’s Jack Welch Research Center in Bangalore said after the new people join, employee numbers in Bangalore would cross the 4,500-mark. GE’s technology product research and development team is currently 3,800-people strong, with an additional 350 people employed in global research.
“The current slowdown has not really affected our pipeline and orders have been strong,” a GE spokesperson said, without citing figures or specific projects. The Bangalore centre has now been put on GE’s blue-chip Ecoassessment Center of Excellence network where engineers based here can jointly assess and manage a product’s environmental footprint throughout the entire lifecycle along with GE’s teams in New York, Shanghai and Munich.
GE is doubling its level of worldwide investments in clean R&D alone from $700 million in 2005 to more than $1.5 billion by 2010. Since the initiative was launched in 2005, GE has more than quadrupled its environmental products from 17 to over 80. India-specific R&D investments of GE, Volvo and DCRTI could not be ascertained.
Source: Business Standard
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