ST LOUIS-based Emerson, a Fortune 500 company listed with the NYSE, is expanding its manufacturing segment in India. The company, that has invested more than $150 million in India till date on various verticals, is looking at India as a growth platform and is also open to acquisitions in the process. “We will be expanding across all areas, in manufacturing processes, across network power, process management, industrial automation, climate technologies and appliance and tool businesses. The expansion will be in terms of increasing space in facilities and adding new ones also,” says Emerson Electric president –India region Pradipta Sen, while launching the company’s second design engineering centre in Quark City, Mohali. However, company officials did not reveal any figures on future investment in India. “We are always open to acquisitions,” adds Mr Sen. Mohali would be the Emerson’s second design engineering centre after Pune, which was launched in 2002. “India is the second largest market in world after China and there is potential to double the numbers in the coming years. Therefore, it makes a lot of difference to have presence here,” says Mr Sen while adding that Emerson has invested close to $25 million in both centres. The multi-divisional design and engineering centre in Mohali will act as a 100% in-house research and development centre on the same lines as Pune and will engage in development of IT solutions for supporting IT systems for finance, HR and supply chain management for 254 clients across the globe including the US and Canada. “The centre will also involve in product and maintenance engineering. There will be 60-100 people in the first year of operations while the numbers will increase by 100 every year,” says Emerson Design Engineering Centre executive director Dr Amit Paithankar while adding that the Mohali centre will follow the Pune business model but cater to more clients as it will also house entire product development cycles, right from concept design to product manufacturing. With revenues over $20 billion, Emerson Electric Co is a global leader in providing innovative solutions to customers in industrial, commercial and consumer markets by converging technology and engineering.