RSB Transmissions, an engineering and technology organisation with 12 state-of-the-art manufacturing plants spread over seven locations in India and one each in the USA and Belgium, engaged in the designing and manufacturing of systems aggregates used by automotive, construction and farm equipment sectors, expanded its global footprint to Mexico with its 13th plant at Silao, Guanajuato State of Central Mexico, the heart of the Mexican automotive industry. It was inaugurated on April 27, 2011 by Governor Juan Manuel Olivia Ramirez in the presence of many senior government and industry delegates.

Inaugurating the plant, Governor Olivia said that RSB Transmissions de Mexico, the 156th automotive company in Guanajuato State, would strengthen the competitiveness and global position of the automotive cluster of the state. He felicitated the chairman and complimented the RSB Group for choosing Guanajuato for the investment, thus demonstrating its faith in the talent and commitment of the people of the state. The governor also recognised that India with its perseverance is emerging as an economic power of the 21st century and said that Guanajuato is following India's model of establishing knowledge and skill-based economy.

Speaking on the occasion, R K Behera, the chairman of the company, highlighted that Mexico provides great opportunities and potential. Mexico possesses a vibrant automotive industry. Presently, with annual production of vehicles in excess of 2 million, it is the tenth largest automotive producer in the world and is projected to reach the top five in the next six years. Mexico is a trillion dollar economy with good macro-economic environment. The financial and the banking system are robust and the inflation is modest. Its economy is highly globally integrated as it has free trade agreements with more than 50 countries - the highest in the world.

RSB is a leading global manufacturer of propeller shafts and components, an array of axles, including front axle, trailer axle, tractor axle and dummy axle, fully finished gears and shafts and transmission components like differential cases, yokes and carriers. In the construction equipment segment, it is a leading manufacturer of heavy fabrications and aggregates like frames, arms, booms and buckets. In FY11, RSB rolled out an impressive performance, grew more than 64 per cent and achieved a topline of about Rs 1,040 crore or USD 231 million. The company expects to maintain the momentum and grow at a CAGR of about 30 to 35 per cent for the next few years. Plans are in place to realise this ambitious target.

Explaining the rationale of the company's Mexican foray, Sanjay Chadda, President, RSB North America, said that the plant in Mexico would help deepen the opportunities for sourcing with the potential for exporting the components to the US. He added that as the market study indicated, there was a shortage of good precision machining capacities in Mexico and therefore RSB had decided to leverage both its India and the US machining competencies and set up the plant at Silao to manufacture transmission components like differential cases, yokes, carriers and finished gears.

Behera declared that starting modestly they would invest about USD 50 to 60 million in Mexico in a span of three years and grow the topline to USD 80 to 100 million in a period of four years. He further said, "Our Mexico plant is very strategic and critical for us in our vision to become a global organisation. Having had bases in the US and Europe, we keenly desire to have a base in the Latin America region in which Mexico and Brazil are soon to become top economies in the world. Mexico is our gateway to Latin America. The cost competitiveness of both India and Mexico, the huge market of the US and the emerging market potential in Latin America provide a perfect synergistic platform to grow the business in Mexico for the benefit of all the three countries."

Leading Indian and global auto companies like Tata Group, John Deere, Fiat, Ford, Allison Transmissions, AAM, Eaton, Magna, GKN, Caterpillar, Terex, Leyland, Komatsu, GE, Mahindra Group and Hitachi are RSB's customers both in India and overseas. Nishant Behera, Director, RSB Transmissions de Mexico, who conceived and planned the Mexico project along with Chadda, added that the domestic customers in Mexico would be American Axle, Eaton, Magna, Getrag, GM and Chrysler who are already RSB's customers in the US. It also intends to export to the parents of the above companies in the US and Canada. There are also plans to use the Mexican facility to export to Fiat in Brazil and Argentina, which are already customers of RSB India.