Schneider—which had €25.2 billion of consolidated global sales in 2020—now exports half the production from its Indian facilities to over 35 countries—mainly in the Middle East, Africa and Southeast Asian countries. India is now the fourth international hub for Schneider after France (Europe), Boston (U.S.) and China (China).
"India accounts for 31,000 employees (of 1,35,000 globally) and 32 manufacturing facilities. We employ over 4,000 professionals alone in our Research and Development here and the country is key to our global operations whether in products, manufacturing, talent, supply chain or services," Anil Chaudhry, Managing Director and Country President, Schneider Electric India, tells Fortune India.
Infrastructure major L&T had exited from the electrical and automation (E&A) business to Schneider Electric in May 2018 to focus on growth areas. Schneider merged it with Schneider Electric India’s Low Voltage and Industrial Automation Product business to form Schneider Electric India Private Limited (SEIPL)—65% of which is owned by Schneider Electric, and the remaining stake with global investment company Temasek. The merger was completed in September last year. It is retaining L&T's certain brands like switch gears for another five years.
Anil Chaudhry says with the global sustainability initiatives, the Indian business is going to play a key role in India and globally, as Schneider Electric is a global leader in the digital transformation of energy management and automation. In 2019, Schneider Electric inaugurated two smart factories in India—Bengaluru and Hyderabad. These smart and integrated factories with digital tools such as augmented reality and IoT helps in a 10% reduction in the mean time to repair critical equipment and eliminate paperwork by 95%.
Schneider Electric—ranked the world’s most sustainable corporation in 2021 by Corporate Knights—has committed to saving and avoiding 800 million metric tons of CO2 for customers by 2025, and helping 1,000 of its suppliers halve their carbon emissions by 2025. Similarly, to contribute to India’s sustainability goals, Schneider Electric today launched a programme 'Green Yodha' to support citizens and enterprises, especially small and medium-scale enterprises (SMEs) in reducing their carbon footprint by adopting energy-efficient practices.
Its next-generation smart platform like EcoStruxure is widely used in homes and buildings, industry, mobility, and energy management solutions. The EcoStruxure platform is IoT-enabled, plug-and-play, open, and has the interoperable software-based architecture to support customers meet their sustainability and energy-efficiency goals. All its products are made with an eco-design approach, to be easily repaired, upgraded, and finally dismantled at end-of-life. The "Ecofit' services facilitate equipment upgrades by replacing only certain key components, rather than replacing a whole system.
