Eyeing huge investments in infrastructure development in the country, Samsung Engineering India (SEI) is planning its entry into power, steel, fertilizer and offshore sectors, besides converting its India office into a full-fledged research and design (R&D) centre to handle projects not only in India but also abroad.
The Indian arm of South Korean conglomerate, Samsung Engineering Company Limited, has been engaged in refinery and petrochemicals projects since its entry into India in 1998 and completed major projects for almost all leading players of the sector. It established SEI as its first global engineering centre (GEC) in 2006 to fulfil its commitment and vision of becoming the global leader in its business by 2015.
“The long-term vision for SEI is to make it a complete R&D centre as well as a total EPC (engineering, procurement, construction) service provider so that it can independently handle projects from India and other countries. We hope to transfer engineering knowledge to the local Indian employees so that they can work independently after gaining the appropriate knowhow,” Samsung Engineering’s spokesperson Charlotte Lee told The Hindu.
“We are looking at tangible achievements in areas of new business like power, desalination, metallurgy, and water business by securing core competency. We have been growing fast at over 20-30 per cent, while there has been phenomenal increase in our new projects. We hope this trend to continue,” she said.
According to SEI Managing Director Seok-Boem Jo, “Our India office is such an important part of our global penetration, as the engineers are involved in designing, procurement and construction activities for various projects in many regions such as the Middle East and Southeast Asia.” He also said that to expand its operations and meet project deadlines, SEI would be adding new employees to take its total strength from 400 to 1,000 by 2015. Over 150 Korean engineers also form part of the team now working in India.
