The Straits Times / The Business Times News on Hyflux

Hyflux expects up to 20% of sales from India in 2 yrs

HYFLUX Ltd, Singapore's biggest publicly traded water-treatment company, expects sales from India to account for as much as 20 per cent of the total in about two years as it expands in the world's second-most populous nation.

The Singapore-based company, which has set up an office in Chennai, wants to expand to other cities in southern India, including Bangalore and Tirupur, where pollution from textile makers and leather factories is rising, said Hyflux chief executive Olivia Lum.

'Industrial players in India are booming,' Ms Lum, 44, said in an interview on Friday. 'This is a good time to enter because it is a necessity for them to recycle water and no longer a regulatory thing. They have no fresh water.'

Hyflux, which is trying to expand beyond China, where it earned 70 per cent of its sales in the second quarter, may benefit from rising demand for water-recycling services in India, which is home to 1.1 billion people. The company plans to find a partner in India to jointly bid for projects and is in talks with 'a number of parties', Ms Lum said. She declined to name them.

Revenue from India is expected to account for 10 per cent to 20 per cent of the total in about two years, with China making up at least 50 per cent, she said. South-east Asia and the Middle East, where it last year partnered Dubai, United Arab Emirates-based Istithmar PJSC to build and operate water and wastewater treatment plants, will contribute to the remainder.

'Hyflux, compared with many of the water-treatment companies that are listed in Singapore, is one that has demonstrated its ability to secure projects in not just one single market,' said Eddy Loh, an analyst at DBS Vickers Securities (Singapore) Pte.

'There's very little pollution control in many parts of India,' Ms Lum said. 'With the growing population, the growing industrialisation, they are running out of clean water because of pollution in the rivers. The situation is very severe and we just need to find the right way to enter this market.' The company expects to hire more in India over the next few years, expanding its five-member team in Chennai to eventually match the 300 employees it has in China. Hyflux wants access to India, where Germany's Siemens AG and General Electric Co, the world's second-biggest company by market value, already have footholds, according to Ms Lum. 'There are just not enough players in the market to tackle the whole thing, which is good for us,' she said. 'The market is huge. The potential is there.' - Bloomberg