Festo India Private Limited inaugurated a 71,000 square feet Global Capability Centre (GCC) in Bengaluru, marking 40 years of operations in India. The facility, located near Electronics City, is designed to support advances in Industry 4.0, automation, and smart manufacturing, with capacity for 600 people.
The GCC will serve as a strategic hub for advanced engineering, digital solutions, software development, data analytics, and process excellence, supporting Festo’s operations worldwide. It will also build on the capabilities of existing employees engaged in global process optimisation and innovation.
“Our GCC in Bengaluru is aligned with Festo’s vision of automation for a sustainable future,” said Ravi Sastry, Managing Director, adding that the centre will play a significant role to drive global R&D initiatives while fostering collaboration with India’s technology and engineering talent pool.
The Electronics City facility currently houses more than 250 employees and has 50 open positions, with over 100 people hired in the past year. The company plans to increase its Bengaluru workforce to 600 by 2030. Hiring at the GCC will include data scientists, embedded artificial intelligence specialists, full-stack developers, and product security engineers.
“India has been a key growth market for Festo for four decades,” said Alok Maheshwari, Head of GCC, Festo India, adding that the company remains focused on enabling skills through technical education and shaping the future of automation through innovation and partnership. He further stated that following the milestone, the company plans to double its team in India.
The GCC integrates software, research and development (R&D), production support, and domain engineering under one roof, enabling end-to-end product development from design to manufacturing. The centre will use automation, artificial intelligence, and machine learning to support global research and development initiatives.
The centre houses a Product Security Lab established as a core quality function. With increasing regulatory requirements, including the Cyber Resilience Act (CRA), security is being integrated into product design, verification, and release processes. Over the past year, the team has developed capabilities, processes, and technical expertise to make security testing a structural element of product quality.
“Forty years of Festo in India is a powerful reflection of our long-term vision and belief in the country’s industrial and technological potential,” said Sebastian Beck, Member of the Management Board HR & Finance, Festo, noting that India will continue to play a strategic role in shaping the company’s global innovation, digital capabilities, and sustainable growth.
Festo is an automation technology company engaged in industrial automation and technical education, supporting manufacturing and process industries worldwide.
Festo is headquartered in Esslingen am Neckar, Germany and entered India in 1963, establishing its incorporated presence in 1986. The company employs over 1,000 people in the country and works with 25,000 customers, institutions, and industry partners across industrial automation, technical education, and Industry 4.0 readiness.
