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Talent pool in India rich in terms of quality and quantity
Honeywell Aerospace India is gearing up for opportunities in the Indian defence sector by exploring offset partnerships, even as it is moving its production processes to the country through partnerships.
The Phoenix, Arizona-based company has 11,000 employees in India, the largest group outside the US and nearly 8% of its global workforce. A year ago, it tied up with Hindustan Aeronautics (HAL) to licence-manufacture 600 TPE331-12 turboprop engines over the next 10-15 years, and plans to eventually make the public sector unit its global production centre for turboprop engines.
Under the first two phases of the tie-up, HAL has been certified to make the engine components and it is expected to start assembling and testing of the complete engines in the third phase in 2011. Besides, Honeywell is also keen on participating in a bid to supply a new engine to the Indian Air Force's Jaguar fighter aircraft upgrade, a deal it sees as important to the company. Honeywell Aerospace India president Pritam Bhavnani tells FE's Ajay Sukumaran his focus areas for the company and its plans for growth in India. Edited excerpts:
You have recently taken over Honeywell's aerospace business in India. What are your focus areas?
There are various aspects. There is some business to be earned from the defence market so that will be one area of focus. On the commercial side, I'm looking for options to help reduce the air traffic congestion in India. And then we have to put the whole aerospace part of Honeywell together in India and make a stronger and a better company out of it, develop people, mentor and grow our staff here.
How much revenue does the company earn from commercial business in India and how much do you expect it to grow?
Generally, it is 40% from defence and 60% from the commercial sector. The Jaguar deal may sway it. However, without the deal I think its growing generally as the defence sector is either adding helicopters and trainers or is modifying the old Russian aircraft and using some western components. On the commercial side, it's the traffic that contributes to the growth.
You have about 5,000 people in the Bangalore technology centre. How do you view the talent pool available as you are competing with other aviation companies here?
The talent pool in India is not only rich in terms of the quality of the talent but also in the number of people. For example, we have a technology centre in Brno in the Czech Republic where we have about 700-800 engineers who do development work for us. If we want to add 500 engineers there we'll have to go and steal all engineers from other companies. However, in India it is manageable without going to steal them from other companies. We comfortably add those many employees every year.
What are your plans for the workforce?
There is continuous growth happening. We have increased from 1,000 to 11,000 in about eight years. The growth will continue.
Over these years, has the complexity of the work here increased?
Absolutely. Earlier, we would take up a development project of a new technology and break it into small tasks. We would attach some people from our technology centre here to the project team in the US, let's say, and create a combined project team. The people in the US would be the ones making the decisions. Today, its more of a 'here's what needs to be done, go figure it out' approach. So the people in India determine the tasks, they identify what has to be done, they create a programme plan, schedule it and do the work. The finished product then delivered to the US. So, it has changed quite a bit.
Can any of your products be said to be developed in India?
It's a multi-country team that does the development, but chunks are developed here. Like in the Synthetic Vision System, more than 50% job is done in India. Basically, the system is developed in modules so an entire module is given to the Indian team.
Talent pool in India rich in terms of quality and quantity
Honeywell Aerospace India is gearing up for opportunities in the Indian defence sector by exploring offset partnerships, even as it is moving its production processes to the country through partnerships.
The Phoenix, Arizona-based company has 11,000 employees in India, the largest group outside the US and nearly 8% of its global workforce. A year ago, it tied up with Hindustan Aeronautics (HAL) to licence-manufacture 600 TPE331-12 turboprop engines over the next 10-15 years, and plans to eventually make the public sector unit its global production centre for turboprop engines.
Under the first two phases of the tie-up, HAL has been certified to make the engine components and it is expected to start assembling and testing of the complete engines in the third phase in 2011. Besides, Honeywell is also keen on participating in a bid to supply a new engine to the Indian Air Force's Jaguar fighter aircraft upgrade, a deal it sees as important to the company. Honeywell Aerospace India president Pritam Bhavnani tells FE's Ajay Sukumaran his focus areas for the company and its plans for growth in India. Edited excerpts:
You have recently taken over Honeywell's aerospace business in India. What are your focus areas?
There are various aspects. There is some business to be earned from the defence market so that will be one area of focus. On the commercial side, I'm looking for options to help reduce the air traffic congestion in India. And then we have to put the whole aerospace part of Honeywell together in India and make a stronger and a better company out of it, develop people, mentor and grow our staff here.
How much revenue does the company earn from commercial business in India and how much do you expect it to grow?
Generally, it is 40% from defence and 60% from the commercial sector. The Jaguar deal may sway it. However, without the deal I think its growing generally as the defence sector is either adding helicopters and trainers or is modifying the old Russian aircraft and using some western components. On the commercial side, it's the traffic that contributes to the growth.
You have about 5,000 people in the Bangalore technology centre. How do you view the talent pool available as you are competing with other aviation companies here?
The talent pool in India is not only rich in terms of the quality of the talent but also in the number of people. For example, we have a technology centre in Brno in the Czech Republic where we have about 700-800 engineers who do development work for us. If we want to add 500 engineers there we'll have to go and steal all engineers from other companies. However, in India it is manageable without going to steal them from other companies. We comfortably add those many employees every year.
What are your plans for the workforce?
There is continuous growth happening. We have increased from 1,000 to 11,000 in about eight years. The growth will continue.
Over these years, has the complexity of the work here increased?
Absolutely. Earlier, we would take up a development project of a new technology and break it into small tasks. We would attach some people from our technology centre here to the project team in the US, let's say, and create a combined project team. The people in the US would be the ones making the decisions. Today, its more of a 'here's what needs to be done, go figure it out' approach. So the people in India determine the tasks, they identify what has to be done, they create a programme plan, schedule it and do the work. The finished product then delivered to the US. So, it has changed quite a bit.
Can any of your products be said to be developed in India?
It's a multi-country team that does the development, but chunks are developed here. Like in the Synthetic Vision System, more than 50% job is done in India. Basically, the system is developed in modules so an entire module is given to the Indian team.
Talent pool in India rich in terms of quality and quantity
