Smart Manufacturing and Green Products:

The Bommasandra Industrial Area, located at the southern edge of Bengaluru (Bangalore) at the terminus of the soon-to-open Yellow Line of the Bengaluru Metro, has a long history, and its streets are filled with traffic. But when we step into the headquarters building of Delta Electronics India Pvt., Ltd., we immediately feel a reverent silence quite different from the cacophony outside.

Telecoms energy: 60% market share

In September of 2024 Delta celebrated the 20th anniversary of its initial investment in India. Delta Electronics India president Benjamin Lin took time out from his busy schedule for an interview with Taiwan Panorama.

Delta is a Taiwanese electronics manufacturing company with a dazzling variety of products. But Lin says in a nutshell: “Put simply, Delta’s core technologies relate to the conversion of electricity between AC [alternating current] and DC [direct current].”

It is applications of AC/DC conversion technology that have enabled Delta to install some 700,000 telecom towers in India, fitted with over 1 million sets of equipment, and to acquire a more than 60% market share in the telecoms power supply market.

Lin reveals the unique vision that has prompted Delta to invest in India: “People say that India’s biggest problem is basic infrastructure, and that the country faces shortages of water and electric power. But at Delta, which produces energy storage systems, all we see is opportunities.”

Delta has already installed more than 8,000 electric vehicle charging stations in India. The photo shows an Indian government vehicle recharging at a Delta charger.

Green buildings, global paragon

In 2024 Delta opened its elaborate new headquarters and R&D center in Bengaluru. The new HQ is a spacious modern building that admits a great deal of natural light. The roof is covered with solar panels to provide electricity, and the building has a rainwater harvesting system. It has received LEED Gold certification under the Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design rating system of the United States Green Building Council. This is Delta’s fourth green building in India and its 35th worldwide, showing that as Taiwanese companies spread out around the globe they are in the forefront of the trend towards sustainable low-carbon operations.

Benjamin Lin attributes Delta’s success in the Indian market over the last 20 years not only to its competitive advantage in terms of technology, but also to a clear strategy of focusing on human resources.” The new HQ includes a Bollywood dance practice studio and a cricket field as part of its thorough implementation of the concept of a “happy workplace.”

In the exhibition space at Delta Electronics India there are two automated demonstration production lines as well as telecommunications energy solutions, demonstrating the company’s strong capabilities in smart manufacturing.

Delta Electronics India president Benjamin Lin sees Delta as a global corporation and hopes that employees can work smartly and efficiently to market green sustainable energy products.

Delta on the Metro

The HQ/R&D Centre complex in Bengaluru can accommodate over 3,000 R&D, engineering, and management professionals and demonstrates Delta’s commitment to local human resources and to deepening its presence in the Indian market. In addition, Delta works with SASTRA Deemed University to select outstanding master’s degree students and send them directly to Yuan Ze University in Taiwan for a year of advanced study in the International Program in Electrical and Communication Engineering. Delta covers tuition fees and provides scholarships as well as offers internship and employment opportunities.

Delta’s commitment to India can also be seen from the fact that the terminus of the Yellow Line of the Bengaluru Metro is called “Delta Electronics – Bommasandra Station.” Delta spent an undisclosed but substantial sum of money to purchase the naming rights to the station for 30 years, showing its Indian personnel that Delta intends to remain in India for the long haul.

One employee who lives in Bengaluru tells us that once the Yellow Line opens, her daily commuting time will be reduced from over one hour each way to 15 minutes. She adds that all of Delta’s employees are proud of working at the firm, where the corporate culture calls for a clear division of rights and responsibilities among different jobs, so that each individual is very clear about what they are supposed to do.

Delta’s 30-year purchase of the naming rights to the terminal station of the soon-to-open Yellow Line of the Bengaluru Metro, which is called “Delta Electronics – Bommasandra Station,” highlights the firm’s long-term commitment to India.

A Taiwanese firm on the world stage

Benjamin Lin emphasizes: “The R&D Centre is not just an R&D institution for India, but for the entire world. We say, ‘India for India, then for global.’ We see what India needs and we manufacture and market these products here. Then we expand outward, and the designs from the teams in India help other Delta Electronics enterprises in developing products to sell to the entire world.”

Besides R&D, what is even more important is manufacturing. Lin stresses that all of Delta’s Indian production bases utilize automated production lines and the company trains its personnel to design, build, use and maintain automated systems. “Industrial automation has always been a core capability at Delta. By building smart factories, we can achieve the goal of Made in India.”

Delta’s main challenge is that India’s laws and regulations are very complex, and the company must have an in-depth understanding of them. For example, Lin mentions that a difference of interpretation arose between foreign companies and the Indian government about whether computer monitors and other human–machine interface products are exempt from import duty. Ambassador Ger Baushuan, Taiwan’s representative at the Taipei Economic and Cultural Center in India, has been indefatigably promoting the signing of a free trade agreement between Taiwan and India in order to help Taiwanese businesses.

Pointing to two demonstration automated production lines in the HQ building’s exhibition space, Benjamin Lin states that by successfully employing local human resources and designing various tailor-made applications and solutions for India’s transformation, Delta has not only demonstrated the strength of Taiwanese companies in terms of promoting innovation and sustainable development, but also offers an optimum model for Taiwanese-­based enterprises to establish a presence in India and deploy around the world.

Delta invests heavily in India because it believes the country has a competitive advantage in human resources.

Under the cooperative education program between Delta Electronics and India’s SASTRA Deemed University, outstanding Indian master’s degree students are sent directly to Yuan Ze University in Taiwan for a year of advanced study.