GE installed India’s first hydropower plant in 1902. Today, GE’s businesses have a prominent presence in India. The company participates in a wide range of manufacturing, services and technology businesses, partnering India’s economic growth through its own operations and through local partnerships with State Bank of India, Wipro and Bharat Heavy Electricals Limited. GE employs over 14,500 people in India.
GE is aware of its constantly evolving responsibilities and its impact on a global scale. We develop measurable strategies that drive operational excellence even as we work to add value to society. At GE, Citizenship is a full-time commitment built upon cultural behavior and actions.
GE’s commitment to human rights extends to employees, suppliers and communities wherever we conduct business. In India, GE is actively working with schools, not-for-profit organizations and state governments to bring quality education and healthcare to the masses.
Our Employees. Our Strength.
GE currently employees more than 14,500 employees in India across its various business divisions. GE believes people are the key to its success, and the Company takes special care in hiring and retaining the best talent. Every year, GE spends more than $1 billion on training and mentoring its people.
GE invests in its people
GE India partners with several business and engineering schools to hire more than 100 interns and over 200 full-time leadership-program employees through the course of the year.
The Company also award hundreds of annual scholarships—GE STAR Awards—to children of GE employees and retirees. Additionally, GE runs a scholarship program at Cummins Engineering College, where it sponsors the education of five students annually. At the GE India Technology Center, GE scientists partner with professors from prominent U.S. schools to collaborate and work on research projects.
GE Foundation, the philanthropic wing of GE, invests in improving the quality of and access to education as well as strengthening community organizations around the world. The GE Foundation India Scholarships are awarded to exceptionally talented students pursuing postgraduate courses in engineering, science and management. The GE Foundation has awarded scholarships to more than 260 students across 25 institutes, amounting to $1.4 million. The selection criteria include not only an excellent academic record, but also strong leadership and good citizenship qualities. These scholarships demonstrate GE’s strong confidence in India’s rich intellectual capital.
Early Identification Program (EID)—GE encourages students to gain experience with them, and an internship at GE’s John F. Welch Technology Centre (JFWTC) in Bangalore, as part of the Early Identification Program (EID), provides a unique opportunity to interact with a few of the best and brightest GE scientists and engineers. For students who wish to pursue research as a career and be a part of the technology world, an internship at GE’s JFWTC can validate their aspirations and serve as a stepping stone for their careers. In EID, top undergraduate and graduate talent work on real technology and gain real-world, hands-on experience with some of the world’s most prolific inventors and scientists.
GE Foundation Scholars—The JFWTC encourages students at various campuses to pursue higher studies by sponsoring their education. A significant number of Foundation Scholars also have been recruited by JFWTC at the end of their course. Many awards, including the Ecomagination Award and the Innovation Award, recognize the exemplary accomplishments of these students.
Leadership and career development programs at GE
Leadership programs are the perfect platforms for accelerating learning and development in a particular domain, from Commercial to Operations, and from Human Resources and Information Management to Finance and Communications, among others. Close to 100 leadership programs are available for employees in India currently. Many graduates of these programs have gone on to assume senior leadership roles within functions.
Support in higher education: GE India is a strong believer in continuous learning, and we offer support to our employees if they want to continue their higher education. GE reimburses 85% of the tuition cost and also has well-defined flexibility policies to help employees balance their deliverables at work and pursue their education.
Leadership courses: In India, we offer the Crotonville Leadership courses to help accelerate leadership development in our employees. These courses are supplemented with a suite of on-demand e-learning programs and other resources for ongoing learning. We also offer programs aimed specifically at the growth and development of our senior talent and front-line managers.
Career development involves very individual choices, and GE India facilitates every individual’s development through various mechanisms.
Best practices in career development
- Career Week: At GE Healthcare, Career Week presents to employees the potential career paths across various functions in the business. At GE Capital, Career Week focuses on providing one-on-one career counseling to employees regarding potential career paths across various functions.
- Technical Career Paths: At the John F. Welch Technology Center, businesses have clearly defined their technical career paths to help employees understand the expectations at various levels and to use the path descriptors as a tool in planning their own growth and career development.
- Edison Engineering Development Program: The Edison Engineering Development Program (EEDP) is an accelerated program for early-career engineers to experience a broad exposure to and develop an in-depth understanding of engineering processes through business-critical projects, intense technical and leadership trainings, and mentorship. The program members, EEDPs, gain core-engineering skills through at least three challenging technical assignments in various technologies over a period of two to three years under the mentorship of senior technical leaders. Their skills are further fine-tuned through GE’s Advanced Course in Engineering (A course), formal reports, and presentations to senior leadership. In their second year, EEDPs take the B course to learn how to prepare actual technical business proposals. EEDPs also have the opportunity to complete a postgraduate degree at one of several top engineering schools while working at GE.
- The RESTART program: This program focuses exclusively on hiring women scientists and engineers who have taken a career break and wish to return to work.
- GE Women’s Network: GE Women’s Network, with 3,500 women members in more than 15 Indian cities, is a strong platform for the professional development of women employees. The Network facilitates small-group mentoring by connecting early-career women with senior women in the organization, with an aim to develop, grow and retain talent. GE Women’s Network is run by a group of senior, dedicated women employees and is present through hubs in Bangalore, Chennai, Delhi, Hyderabad and Mumbai. While supporting the Network’s four global initiatives, focused on Women in Technology, Women in Commercial, My Connections and HealthAhead, the hubs closely partner with their business leaders and HR teams to attract, retain and grow diverse talent.
People and culture
A Balanced and healthy work environment
At GE India, we believe that integrating work life and personal life enables a happy and productive lifestyle. To support this balance, we provide flexible work arrangements and the infrastructure necessary to support work flexibility. GE promotes an inclusive culture that supports the needs of employees with family responsibilities. We also believe in providing a sound and safe working environment to our employees. GE businesses in India operate within the Environmental, Health and Safety (EHS) guidelines of GE. The company has received several external awards for its EHS efforts in India, including the Golden Peacock National Award for combating climate change for our John F. Welch Technology Centre at Bangalore and two Karnataka State Awards for GE Healthcare.
Corporate integrity
GE has built and maintained a strong culture of integrity and compliance by remaining dedicated to its governance policies. GE’s ombudsperson process and its integrity statement, The Spirit & The Letter, are two of the ways in which GE keeps communication channels open and makes its policies and expectations clear to employees.
Contributing to communities through volunteering
GE Volunteers
Contributing to GE’s corporate citizenship commitment, GE Volunteers in India have in the last five years, given more than 90,000 volunteer-hours to not-for-profit and government-run organizations. Multiple community-based projects have been undertaken by GE Volunteers in the areas of education, health, the environment and community development through its six Councils across India. In doing so, GE volunteers have been associated with the NASSCOM Foundation, police departments (Cyberabad, Delhi and Karnataka), Junior Achievement, AMCHAM India, United Way, ATREE, Manipal Hospital, Sankara Eye Hospital, LVPEI (L V Prasad Eye Institute), Aseema, Rotary International, NAB (National Association for the Blind), VIDYA, Lead India 2020 and Jet Airways.
Healthymagination: Making affordable healthcare a reality in India
GE works for a healthier India through its healthymagination strategy and its “In India, for India” approach.
Healthymagination is GE’s $6 billion commitment to creating better health for more people. It is focused on lowering healthcare costs while improving quality and access. GE India has an important role to play in this vision, as it strives to continuously develop innovations in the area of healthcare focused on reducing healthcare costs, increasing access and improving quality and efficiency around the world.
Our new model of product development empowers local teams to develop technologies locally, applying rigorous methodologies to uncover health needs, identify and develop technologies, and validate our products and services—while demonstrating that each supports improvements in healthcare cost, access and quality. To achieve our mission of a healthier India, we are designing and developing a series of solutions that address some of the biggest health issues of India—cardiac disease, cancer and maternal/infant deaths.
By partnering with public and private entities, healthymagination is helping hospitals, cities, regions and countries increase their capacity to deliver quality healthcare safely while keeping costs under control.
Conducting business with an astute consciousness of the environmental concerns in India: expanding Ecomagination footprints in India
GE works towards developing innovative solutions and services that address the environmental challenges in India while generating growth for the company. Towards this end, GE works at expanding its ecomagination initiative—GE’s global commitment to creating new value for its customers and society—by solving energy, efficiency and water challenges in India.
GE’s businesses in India are focused on developing advanced technologies to meet customers’ demand for cleaner and more-energy-efficient products. Our diverse portfolio of ecomagination products in India is grounded in two common requirements and guided by concrete metrics. Products must demonstrate both significant operating and environmental benefits, a reflection of the ecomagination tenet that through applied technology and innovation, we can drive progress in a way that reduces impact on the environment.
GE’s Technology Centre, set up in 1999 in Bangalore, is developing eco-friendly technologies in the areas of water, healthcare and energy, including zero-energy clean water solutions for rural markets, low-wind-regime turbines, high-efficiency gas engines, biomass-based power solutions, and Value CT designed in India to provide better healthcare access to tier 2 and 3 cities.
GE is also the world’s largest renewable-resource company and has invested $5 billion in the development of clean technologies to date, with a commitment to invest $10 billion by 2015.
Ecomagination: Developing solutions for India
Aircraft Engines
Increasing operational cost is one of the biggest concerns for the aviation industry in India, and rising fuel prices contribute significantly toward this. The industry is looking for energy-efficient alternatives that can help it manage costs and balance profit margins. GE designs and develops aviation solutions that are extremely fuel-efficient and environment-friendly. GE’s GEnx engine, which is powering the Boeing 787 Dreamliner in India, is one of the most technologically advanced and fuel-efficient engines. The GEnx engine offers up to 15% improved fuel efficiency, which translates to up to 15% less CO2. The engine’s innovative low-emission combustor dramatically reduces NOx gases as much as 55% below today’s regulatory limits, and other regulated gases by as much as 90%. The GEnx is also the quietest engine GE has produced, the result of large, more-efficient fan blades that operate at slower tip speed, with about 30% lower noise levels.
Renewable Energy
Biogas has become the mainstay of India’s renewable-energy programs, especially for the Indian ethanol industry and sewage treatment plants. GE, along with its distributors, can implement full turnkey solutions to convert a variety of bio-wastes into useful power and has undertaken several unique, pathbreaking installations in India.
GE has developed a comprehensive energy portfolio to help India meet its energy priorities. The Company addresses a better energy future by applying advanced technologies to the challenges of energy and water intensity.
Energy-Efficient Healthcare
GE Healthcare continues to develop products and services with significant, measurable environmental performance that help customers achieve their “green” goals.
Clean Water
Although water covers 70% of the earth’s surface, freshwater scarcity impacts 1 billion people every day. Global increases in population and industrialization are reducing the average availability of freshwater. It is estimated that by 2020, India will become a water-stressed nation. According to a recent survey by U.S.-based Columbia Water Center in association with FICCI, the majority of Indian companies consider water scarcity an increasing business risk, prompting them to conserve the commodity. GE’s innovative and proven water-management solutions make it possible for municipalities and industries around the world to implement wastewater-reclamation, advanced-treatment and water-reuse programs.
Technology for Low & Medium Wind Speeds
Building on a strong power-generation heritage, GE’s wind turbines deliver proven performance and reliability. They are designed to provide additional swept area and energy capture, providing a strong return on investment as well as noise mitigation.
Rural Water
According to WHO, about 70 million people in 20 states in India are at risk because of excess fluoride and around 10 million people are at risk from excess arsenic in groundwater. GE’s Water teams are working on filtration and water-remediation technologies using a “zero-point energy” approach to reduce contaminants in rural drinking water. This technology uses specialized chemisorption technologies to bring contaminant levels in line with global safe-drinking-water standards. In addition, the water purifier uses GE’s patented ultra-filtration technology to take out suspended particles and microbiological contamination. GE’s zero-point energy technology requires no energy or electricity to operate and is therefore ideal for rural homes.
GE employs more than 14,500 people in India across its various businesses.
Innovating locally to improve quality of life in India and for the world
Our focus in India is to develop innovative and localized products, and our first multi-modal manufacturing facility in Pune is an example of our commitment to achieve this vision. The Pune facility is GE’s first such large-scale manufacturing facility in India, where we will manufacture multiple product lines from different businesses, including Energy and Transportation. The facility is likely to create approximately 2,000 direct and indirect employment opportunities in India.
GE has been a strong player in the Indian market for more than two decades, where we have been manufacturing in India at our three healthcare facilities in Bangalore as well as making and sourcing components for domestic and global markets. The new facility in Pune adds to our manufacturing strength in India.
GE India Technology Centre, Bangalore, India
The GE India Technology Centre, in Bangalore, is GE’s largest integrated multidisciplinary research and development center and the first to be located outside the U.S. It is the hub of technology and innovation for GE, playing a key role in helping us to retain our technological competitive edge and market leadership through innovation. The center continues to add breadth and depth in key technology areas and has contributed to developing a number of innovative technologies. The India Technology Center, with more than 5,000 employees, has contributed to over 1,500 patents filed by the parent General Electric Company in the last decade.
Key technologies worked on at the center during this time include The PowerHaul™ Locomotive that serves the transportation sector, the new baseline turbofan engine LEAP-X for the aviation industry, and healthcare advances such as the Lullaby Infant Warmer and the MAC® 400 ultra-portable ECG, among many others.
In June 2012, GE announced an investment of over INR 300 crores toward setting up new R&D labs and other expansion activities at the Bangalore center to showcase research and engineering in areas of critical importance, including cancer treatment, radiochemistry and other technology applications in healthcare, locomotive engines, heavy-earth-moving equipment, and equipment for the energy sector.
Hyderabad Technology Centre (HTC)
The Hyderabad Technology Centre, a part of the Energy Engineering Division & India Engineering operations, is home to a global engineering team that began as a 185-member Energy Engineering team in 2006. In the five years since its inception, HTC has undergone tremendous growth and has become a hub of excellence for technology from “Exploration to Utilization” of energy. The center hosts complete engineering teams for Controls & Power Electronics, Renewables SCADA software & controls, Jenbacher Controls, Industrial Solutions, the Digital Energy & Software Solutions Group, MCS-Sensing, Oil & Gas Electrification and Electronics.
The now 750-plus team has been making rapid strides in creating intellectual property (IP) for GE’s Energy business and has many IDLs and successful patents filed since 2008, with many more in the pipeline. HTC is among the top five sites for Energy Engineering in terms of numbers of engineers and aims to be the center of excellence in software, electronics design, embedded systems design and electromechanical design for GE Energy products and services.
