Indian firms march on in China

Indian companies struck a series of new pacts and agreements with its giant neighbour in the last few months.Wipro buys Chinese FMCG firmWipro Consumer Care and Lighting's Singapore arm plans to acquire Chinese FMCG firm Zhongshan Ma Er Daily Products Ltd.The deal for the fast-moving consumer goods company was struck by the Bengaluru-headquartered conglomerate in an all-cash transaction. Wipro Consumer Care said this would be its second biggest acquisition since it bought Unza Holdings Ltd, a Singapore consumer goods firm, for $246 million in 2007. This will be Wipro Consumer Care's 10th acquisition since 2003; and with this, it expects its international businesses to account for 55 per cent of its total global revenue.Zhongshan Ma Er has its presence in China and Hong Kong and its brand portfolio includes personal care brands Enear, Zici, and Vcnic, comprising bath and shower products, and fabric care brands Pahnli and Sunew.Vineet Agrawal, CEO of Wipro Consumer Care and Lighting, said: “We don't plan to bring these products to India, but we will bring in formulations and enhance our portfolio brands.”Apollo signs MoU for China hospital

India's Apollo Hospitals Group has signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with China's Hainan Ecological Smart City Group (HESCG) to jointly develop a highly integrated modern healthcare service facility and systems in China's Hainan province.As per the MoU, the hospital will come up in an upcoming Smart City on the island of Hainan. It will also have medical, nursing and paramedical colleges and would cater to not only the people of the province but also attract medical tourists from mainland China and other nations. The MoU was signed by Sangita Reddy, joint managing director, Apollo Hospitals, and Yang Chunzhi, managing director, HESCG, in the presence of K.T. Rama Rao, minister for IT & urban development, Telangana.The collaboration with Apollo Hospitals would begin with the development of a state-of-the art hospital and college and will lead to the development of advanced healthcare IT systems and telemedicine solutions.The Chinese industrial park and development company will provide land, all the investment for the construction, commissioning and equipping the hospital besides all operative expenses, while will provide its services for technical consulting, planning and commissioning of the hospital.Micromax to tap Chinese markets

Indian local smartphone brand Micromax is all set to sell its phones in the Chinese market.The company said in a statement: “The vision will be realised by going to multiple countries, by being not only a hardware company, but a hardware and services company, and hence the experience.”Micromax plans to roll out a single model in China in collaboration with its ecommerce giants. To have an exclusive Chinese mobile phone portfolio, the company will partner with local players to the extent of offering a different operating system. At the RISE Conference in Hong Kong, Micromax co-founder Vikas Jain said that entering China is an essential step for his company's goal of becoming one of the top five global brands by 2020.Micromax also sells its phones in Sri Lanka, Nepal and Russia. Jain said that the company is also studying the US market, and could enter more than one new country in the next 12 months. The firm sold over 36 million smartphones, feature phones and non-Internet capable handsets in India last year. It faces competition from Samsung and Chinese players like Xiaomi, Lenovo and Huawei in the local market and is now looking overseas to grow.NIIT signs deals with China

NIIT, India's training and skills development company, said it has entered into two strategic agreements in China to develop a pool of IT professionals in areas like big data and analytics.The agreements cover partnership between Guiyang Municipal Government and Guizhou Professional College of Electronics in Gui'An New District with NIIT.Under the agreement, NIIT will train up to 50,000 people in five years in China. It will establish a training base in public-private partnership model with Guiyang government to conduct IT and big data training for university graduates, working professionals and government employees in Guizhou province.Rahul Patwardhan, chief executive, NIIT, said: “With our keen understanding of the changing skills requirement of the industry, NIIT is committed to support China in its human capacity building initiative.“By entering into partnerships with Guizhou Electronics College in Gui'An New District and Guiyang Municipal Government we reiterate our commitment to create a talent pool armed with futuristic skill-sets aligned to the requirements of the IT industry.” NIIT said in a statement that through these partnerships it aims to develop human capital in line with China's vision to promote Guizhou province as the hub of big data industry in China and the world.India's Grey Orange eyes China robotic

Indian robotics automation company GreyOrange has made plans to expand its operation in mainland China and become a major operator in the country's automation market.Nalin Advani, chief executive, Asia-Pacific and Japan region, GreyOrange, said: “We are aiming at a 50 per cent market share in China. In two to three years, the Chinese market will be as big as the Indian market for us.”The company makes robots that pick and move packages in warehouses, namely “Butlers” and “Sorters”. The Butlers fetch goods from shelves and bring them to human workers for processing and the Sorters load, scan and bag packets.GreyOrange is also looking for a Chinese logistics-services provider to partner with to help market and distribute its products in the country.As per statistics released by the International Federation of Robotics, mainland China leads as the world's top market for industrial robots with unit sales of 66,000 in 2015, up 16 per cent from 2014.Sonalika Tractors plans plant in China

International Tractors Ltd, the makers of Sonalika brand of farm equipment and India's third-largest tractor maker by volume, is in talks with a Chinese tractor maker to form a joint venture for a plant in Shandong province.Work on the China unit has already started and it is expected to commence production in the first half of calendar year 2017, said Gaurav Saxena, head of international tractor business at Sonalika International. By 2020, the unit will have a capacity to make 5,000 tractors every year.The Hoshiarpur-based company in Punjab said it has tapped into the export market in an attempt to survive the cyclical nature of the tractor industry in the domestic market. Once finalised, Sonalika tractors will be the second Indian tractor company after Mahindra and Mahindra Ltd to start manufacturing in China.