Waters Corp inaugurates $16 mn GCC in Bengaluru

Bengaluru: Massachusetts-based Waters Corporation, a $3 billion analytical laboratory instrument and software company, on Wednesday, inaugurated its $16 million global capability centre in Bengaluru's RMZ Ecoworld, its first in the world. 

This facility will be largely utilised for testing, according to Nilesh Karani, who has been appointed Managing Director for Waters GCC in India, while the research and development and manufacturing bits will be taken care of at its central facility in the US.

“A serious amount of talent is needed to manufacture precision instruments and we are not yet there,” underscored Udit Batra, the president and chief executive officer of Waters Corporation, adding that biologics and food software will remain the focus in India for the next 2-3 years.

The New York Stock Exchange-listed company already has 430 employees in India across its eight sites and has added another 300 for its new GCC in Bengaluru on the build-operate-transfer model with its partner Infosys. The roles will primarily focus on software engineering, technology and product development, data analytics, and information technology. Globally, it has a headcount of over 8,000 employees across 35 countries. Its revenues stood at $2.97 billion as of 2022.

According to Batra, India is the fifth largest market for the firm globally. The country has been its fastest-growing market (13% through the third quarter), registering a compound annual growth rate of 20% in the last five years.

During Q3 of calendar year 2023, India accounted for about 20% of the total Asia-Pacific revenues. All its three major segments – pharmaceutical, industrial, and academic & government, grew in double digits, the company said, while 80% of business in India comes from the pharmaceuticals segment alone.