Festo inaugurated a global capability centre in Bengaluru in February 2026, timing the launch with four decades of incorporated operations in India. The 71,000 sq ft facility near Electronics City has room for 600 people. It already employs more than 250, and the company aims to fill all 600 seats by 2030.
Festo is a family owned automation technology company headquartered in Esslingen am Neckar, Germany. It employs more than 20,000 people across about 250 locations and generates annual revenue of around €3.5 billion. It puts more than 8% of turnover into research and development and serves over 300,000 industrial customers in more than 35 industries, as well as a large technical education business.
What the centre will do
The centre brings software, research and development, production support and domain engineering under one roof so that products can be developed end to end. Its work spans advanced engineering, digital solutions, data analytics and process excellence for Festo operations worldwide, with AI and machine learning applied to global research work. A dedicated product security lab builds security into design, testing and release, partly in response to the European Union’s Cyber Resilience Act.
Hiring is moving quickly. Festo added more than 100 people in the year before the launch and is recruiting data scientists, embedded AI specialists, full stack developers and product security engineers. Alok Maheshwari heads the centre, and Ravi Sastry is managing director of Festo India.
Why Bengaluru
Bengaluru gives Festo direct access to one of the largest pools of software, embedded systems and data talent in the world. That matters for an automation company whose machines increasingly rely on code, connectivity and security features. Electronics City in particular has a long record as a base for engineering and technology centres.
Festo’s India footprint
Festo first entered India in 1963 and set up its incorporated presence in 1986. It now has more than 1,000 employees in the country and works with about 25,000 customers, institutions and industry partners. The company has said it plans to double its India team.
What it signals
German engineering groups are moving beyond sales and service in India and placing core product development in the country. Festo’s centre, with its focus on embedded AI and product security, shows how industrial automation is becoming a software business. It also underlines Bengaluru’s pull for European companies that need engineers who can work across hardware and code.
At a glance
- Home country: Germany
- Sector: Industrial and Engineering
- City: Bengaluru
- Date: February 2026
- Status: Operational
- Scale: 71,000 sq ft, capacity for 600, more than 250 staff today
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