Alstom India
Biz@India
Sunand Sharma, Country President, India and South Asia and Chairman, Alstom India, from 2006 to 2014, has been appointed Chevalier de la Légion d’Honneur (Knight of the Legion of Honour), the highest French civilian distinction, by the French Government, in recognition of his achievements as Alstom President.
“During his tenure, Alstom, with headquarters in France and an over 100-year history in India, went through transformative change in the region with unprecedented expansion”, said the French Embassy in Delhi, adding that Alstom India developed its activities in new sectors such as hydroelectricity and invested in “Make in India”.
In terms of employees, with more than 1,500 persons, India became the second largest country for the company outside France. Alstom India total yearly business moved from a few hundred million euros to two billion euros.
Alstom is a global leader in power generation, power transmission and rail infrastructure and is present in India since 1911. The group has four Research and Development centres in India: Alstom Infosys R&D Centre in Bengaluru, Transport in Bengaluru, Hydro Global Technology Centre in Vadodara and Hosur for Grid. It has two engineering centres for Power in Noida and Kolkata and eleven manufacturing units dedicated to: Hydro in Vadodara, Boilers in Durgapur, auxiliary components and airpreheaters in Shahabad, Steam turbines in Mundra and Transport at Coimbatore and SriCity, Grid in Padappai, Pallavaram, Hosur, Vadodara and Naini. Alstom also has also a Global Engineering & Software Centre for Railway and metro in Bengaluru for Transport.
Sunand Sharma also served as President of the Indo-French Chamber of Commerce & Industry for two terms and chaired and served on various committees of the CII and FICCI, during his tenure with Alstom.
He has over 35 years of experience of strategic advice to international companies like GE Wind or Nokia.
On behalf of French President François Hollande, French Ambassador to India, François Richier, will confer the distinction on Sunand Sharma, at a ceremony on February 17, at the French Embassy residence.
