Excerpts from an interview with Suzlon Energy Chairman Tulsi Tanti:

ON THE DEAL: It’s been our strategy for a while now, looking for ways to strengthen the entire supply chain. In this business, you have to think at least five years in advance. As you know, we make wind turbine generators—gear box and turbine technologies are two key areas we need to look at in our backward integration process. This acquisition will add immense value to that effort. The gear box is at the heart of the wind turbine generators. In a way, the technology that Hansen has will help us build bigger, better, cost-effective turbines.

ON FUTURE ACQUISITIONS: I think we have done enough for the year. Now, with an order book of Rs 4,232 crore in hand, we want to concentrate on commissioning the projects. While the industry has been growing at 25 per cent, we have registered growth of 80 per cent year on year.

ON MARKET DYNAMICS: India is still our largest market. Of the 1,500 MW installed in India, Suzlon did 850 MW. But for the next two years, we will also concentrate on the US, which will be our second-largest growth market, followed by China. We are investing $25 million in setting up a manufacturing unit in Minneapolis that should be completed by July. We should also intall 600 MW in China by August-September this year. We have also bagged orders from South Korea and Australia.

ON COMPARATIVE ADVANTAGE: The global players were in India in 1995 when we started the business and India’s wind energy installation was at 50 MW. Yet, over the years it’s Suzlon which is the biggest player in the sector. I believe we have a cost advantage and as long as we can hold on to that, we should see good growth.