3M establishes Rs 100-cr R&D centre in Bangalore

Target is to have about 40% of revenues in India coming from India-developed products in 5 yrs. 3M India had revenues of Rs 1,176 cr last year.

By TNN | Sep 24, 2011, 09.53 AM IST

BANGALORE: 3M on Friday launched a new R& D in Bangalore with the objective of accelerating its development of products for India.

The $27-billion American multinational, regarded as one of the world's most innovative companies, has spent as much as Rs 100 crore in establishing the centre, an indication of the seriousness with which it is now approaching this market.

"We did these kind of labs in China 4-5 years ago and saw phenomenal results. We are hoping for the same magic in India," Jay Ihlenfeld, head of 3M's Asia Pacific region, said. The company's existing lab has 125 engineers; the new one will take that number to 300 in five years.

The target is to have about 40% of revenues in India coming from India-developed products in five years. 3M India had revenues of Rs 1,176 crore last year. The company's MD Ajay Nanavati said the vision is to be $1 billion (about Rs 4,600 crore) by 2015.

Globally, 3M produces more than 50,000 products, but is perhaps best known for its Post-it notes and Scotchbrite home cleaning products .

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