?I think the place sells itself. Even in the chaos, you can sense the energy,? says John Flannery, president & CEO, GE India. Flannery?s prognosis of the immense opportunities to be tapped in India bodes well for one of the world?s biggest companies, the $157-billion, US-based General Electric, in a country where it has often missed the growth bus in its over a century of existence. There is much riding on Flannery, GE boss Jeff Immelt?s choice for getting its Indian subsidiary in fighting shape again. In a candid, freewheeling interview with Diksha Dutta and Shailesh Dobhal, Flannery, a GE veteran of over 23 years with the last year or so as head of Indian operations, shares the company?s ?growth playbook? for India, with focus on growing the topline 30% YoY.

It has been over a year since the ?One GE? structure was set up in India with a separate P&L (the first for any country outside US in GE). How have things played out since then?

In quantitative terms, we are further ahead than the forecast we had then made. As I keep learning, I keep raising the bar. In India, the opportunity is bigger than I appreciated and we plan to grow 30% YoY. The January-March 2011 quarter was incredibly strong for our India business, and the order book grew in triple digits. We are seeing opportunity in the renewable energy business, which is very active. Even the healthcare business in India is now growing at a higher rate than the overall company growth rate. Smaller cities have started picking up in healthcare and we have a whole set of products and distribution for these regions. On the other hand, there is a mixed outlook in the traditional gas generation business, with uncertainty over gas supplies.

In the overall picture, our India business is unquestionably dominated by energy, with aviation and healthcare being strong too. The financial sector business is also rebounding and making good money. We have exited consumer-related things in the financial services and are now focusing more on sectors like manufacturing, infrastructure and energy. With a separate P&L, I am speeding up hiring, responding to customers and also inking deals. My ability to transmit the message globally is way louder and effective. With my presence in India, the ability to be on the ground, take decisions there and get hard customer feedback makes a huge difference.

How are you doing on the July-September 2011 deadline for commissioning your $200-million multipurpose manufacturing facility?

We are running 60-90 days behind schedule. We are still finalising the site and you know how these things (greenfield ventures involving land) play out here.

GE is retooling for India… more local, more India-centric innovations.

The key thing for GE as a global company is how can it be much more local in markets like India. The more local you are, the more effective you are. Our whole learning in India has been how to become a really local company. The faster we do it, the more successful we will be. And we will also face our competitors better. In addition, we are trying to learn from experiences here and apply them in other markets like Indonesia and China.

Global recovery seems to be running out of steam. In India, too, we are now speaking about sub-8% GDP growth. Does this cyclical slowdown worry you as you look to grow business 30% YoY here?

We are starting from an artificially reduced point in India and our growth is just getting started. We are not as big as we should have been in healthcare, energy or power. So, I am not that obsessed (or worried) with the GDP growth rate. Now we are solidly bullish, across segments; and 10-20 years later, India is going to be a huge market for us. It is a long-term perspective.

You are beefing up your marketing and sales force too…

We have completely revamped the way we recruit in India. Depending on the business, we want to triple our sales force in India in the next five years. In most cases, it had a very low number. The opportunity was bigger than the resources in our sales force and marketing. At present, our sales team is 775 and the projection for 2011 is 1,100. But getting the right people is a challenge.

You have again entered the appliance market years after your joint venture (JV) with Godrej fell out. With Korean brands already big here, haven?t you already missed the bus?

Yes, the opportunity to be in the big mass market is no longer there. We?re exploring how we can occupy certain high-value niches in this segment. The foray remains exploratory in nature.

Last year you mentioned that you are open to acquisitions. In which area are we likely to see them?

This varies by business. We have a centralised team of eight people to plan such acquisitions. There are a couple of themes that are emerging in the acquisition strategy?the product gap, the localisation gap and the distribution in the customer base. The acquisition could be in any space, but the energy and healthcare segments look attractive. But the problem is that not many people want to sell because every company is doing well in India.

From our side, we are engaging in JVs.

We have JVs with Wipro, SBI,BHEL and Triveni. Triveni is a successful JV with a 50:50 partnership, but they have a controlling share. This JV continues to fulfil our shortfalls in products and local manufacturing as well as cost structures, and may very well be the model for us going ahead.

How difficult is it to bid for government projects in India?

I have a couple of reactions to the government?one macro positive and another macro negative. I think the government is doing a much better job in aggregate than it gets credit for. What they are trying to do in a very short period in an extremely vibrant democracy, starting with a limited base and resources, is incredible. The absolute level of activity is getting better.

But on the flip side, this can be very slow. We have had this experience with railway tenders in particular. They could definitely have been better and faster. We are still optimistic that the railway project is going to have more technologically advanced, more fuel-efficient and low-cost locomotives. It is a good project for us and for the country. The challenge for a company like ours is how do we keep the resources focused and dedicated for a project that keeps pushing back.

How much dependence does your India business have on the public sector?

Our business is heavily dominated towards the private sector. The work that we do in the public sector would primarily be in healthcare, our JV with BHEL and in the aviation sector with Air India.

But, we would be happy to have more of anything?public or private.

Relative to your size (around $2 billion of sales in India), GE punches above its weight in terms of mindshare…

Yes, you?re right. We get access to the government and others because of being GE. And one of my objectives here is how to make that (bigger-than-life company image) perception and reality (of size) converge.