D-Link sees India as global manufacturing hub

The $1.2 billion Taiwan-based networking products major D-Link Corporation is planning to make India one of its manufacturing hubs, from where it intends to market its products across the globe.

The company will continue manufacturing at D-Link India's Goa facility. D-Link Corp holds 36 per cent stake in D-Link India.

"We have manufacturing facilities in three locations around the world - Taiwan, China and the US - apart from India. At present, the Indian facility manufactures cabling products, switches, modems and IP-phones, among others," said An-ping Chen, global director and CFO, D-Link Corp.

Chen, who was in India for the company's board meeting, said the manufacturing operations of D-Link are conducted through its Taiwanese subsidiary Alpha, which was spun off as a separate unit earlier.

"We are in the process of identifying the products that could be manufactured in India and marketed across the world. However, this would not be in the immediate future and could take two years," he said.

India has a "commendable" research and development talent, apart from a highly educated and English-speaking workforce, which makes the country an ideal location for manufacturing.

However, the supply chain in the country - especially when it comes to sourcing of raw material - is a major concern. Logistics, which is also an area of concern, has to be developed for selling finished goods around the world.

D-Link India is a vendor to the global networking major that outsources a lot of products, including VoIP products such as IP-PBX, which are designed, developed and manufactured in India.

Broadband, wireless and digital convergence products constitute major sales for D-Link Corp worldwide, and the company expects that the emergence of broadband in the country will boost sales of D-Link India's products in a major way.