India Is A Compelling Market In Totality: Philips CEO Roy Jakobs

Philips CEO Roy Jakobs on Thursday talked about the company's India-focused strategic vision and highlighted the role of the country in Philips' global operations. Jakobs was in Bengaluru to inaugurate and launch Philips' new 6,00,000 square metre facility, which is being pegged as the company's largest software and R&D centre. 

Speaking with the media, Jakobs stressed on the role of software in delivering significant value in the healthcare sector, with more than half of Philips' annual innovation budget of USD 1.7 billion allocated to software development, a considerable portion of this is channeled to India and Bengaluru.

"We have a few global hubs for software and the biggest centre in the world is here in Bengaluru," said Jakobs, underlining the central role of the Bengaluru facility in the company's global innovation, R&D and software development efforts.

India, home to nearly 10,000 Philips employees out of a global workforce of 70,000, accounts for approximately 15 per cent of the company's total workforce. Jakobs revealed that the headcount in India has doubled in the last five years with the country's heighted role. The company has invested in serving the Indian market by providing healthcare solutions to hospitals and consumers, including oral care products, male grooming and beauty products.

During a media roundtable in Bengaluru, Jakobs highlighted the multifaceted role of India within Philips, pointing out that the country not only serves as a crucial local market but also as a manufacturing hub, global services centre and an innovation powerhouse. 

The company reportedly has a presence in all Indian states but positions Pune as its primary manufacturing hub, Chennai as a global services hub and Delhi as a central commercial hub.

While India contributes in low single-digits to the USD 19 billion company's overall revenue, the market is reportedly seeing a good growth rate. Discussing India's compelling market potential, Jakobs highlighted the local opportunities it offers, along with its manufacturing and innovation prospects.

"We see India as a growth market both from healthcare and consumer perspective. There is a growing need for healthcare and we can provide better services. There is also a growing consumer opportunity that we are going after," Jakobs said.

"But it's also a growth area in terms of resources that we can actually get in India for the rest of the world - whether it's manufacturing products, or components or innovations that we co-create and deliver from here. So, India is a growing more important as part of our ecosystem," he added.  

In the third quarter, Philips witnessed a increase in its core profit, which grew to EUR 457 million (USD 483.3 million), with comparable sales rising by 11 per cent to EUR 4.5 billion. This surge was driven by a growing demand for the company's medical scanners, patient monitoring equipment and personal health devices. 

However, new orders experienced a decline of 9 percent compared to the previous year, primarily due to a cooling demand from China after a pre-pandemic surge and lingering supply chain challenges.