INDIAPOSITIVE
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SOURCE: ECONOMIC TIMES
The Airbus Group has procured equipment worth over $500 million from India in 2015, supporting 6,000 jobs among its 45 suppliers. The group is keen on its military aircraft for Make in India and wants to set up final assembly lines. However, the Eurofighter may be a thing of the past,Airbus India President Pierre de Bausset tells Manu Pubby in an interview. Edited excerpts:
Are you looking at setting up a final assembly line in India for a military aircraft?
We have bid for C295W medium transport aircraft as a replacement for IAF’s Avro fleet. If selected, together with Tata, we will set up a C295W final assembly line in India and a supplier base to feed it. We have also partnered with Mahindra for helicopter manufacturing in India. We are already laying the groundwork and are readying ourselves for fast-track implementation in case the government accepts our proposals.
On Eurofighter, we have moved on and put the campaign in India behind us.
The latest Union Budget provides only a modest increase in the defence outlay. How do you see that affecting your programs?
I believe they will find the resources if they are convinced about the merits of a proposal and see a tangible ‘Make in India’ benefit. This is where we stand out. We don’t offer India just a great product but the promise of an indigenous defence industrial ecosystem, entailing large scale jobs creation and skill development.
Ramping-up manufacturing in India would require a substantial amount of skilled aerospace workforce which is in shortage. How will you tackle this?
This is a real challenge and honestly there is no quick fix. We will work alongside partners and invest in training and skilling people. A good example is how we work with our suppliers here who, by the way, employ over 6,000 people on our projects. We provide them intensive training and mentoring. I am also impressed by how partners, like TASL in particular, have set up programmes to skill their blue collars, and I believe there are lessons in this.
What are your expectations from the new Defence Procurement Procedure?
If it succeeds in simplifying processes, cutting the time it currently takes between issuing a tender and its closure, it will be good. It should have sufficient checks and balances to not let the process stall for unqualified reasons.
The concept of strategic partnerships in the context of the Aatre Committee report needs a closer look. The segmentation, duration of exclusivity, their ability to partner and to consolidate needs to be fully assessed.
The Airbus Group has procured equipment worth over $500 million from India in 2015, supporting 6,000 jobs among its 45 suppliers. The group is keen on its military aircraft for Make in India and wants to set up final assembly lines. However, the Eurofighter may be a thing of the past,Airbus India President Pierre de Bausset tells Manu Pubby in an interview. Edited excerpts:
Are you looking at setting up a final assembly line in India for a military aircraft?
We have bid for C295W medium transport aircraft as a replacement for IAF’s Avro fleet. If selected, together with Tata, we will set up a C295W final assembly line in India and a supplier base to feed it. We have also partnered with Mahindra for helicopter manufacturing in India. We are already laying the groundwork and are readying ourselves for fast-track implementation in case the government accepts our proposals.
On Eurofighter, we have moved on and put the campaign in India behind us.
The latest Union Budget provides only a modest increase in the defence outlay. How do you see that affecting your programs?
I believe they will find the resources if they are convinced about the merits of a proposal and see a tangible ‘Make in India’ benefit. This is where we stand out. We don’t offer India just a great product but the promise of an indigenous defence industrial ecosystem, entailing large scale jobs creation and skill development.
Ramping-up manufacturing in India would require a substantial amount of skilled aerospace workforce which is in shortage. How will you tackle this?
This is a real challenge and honestly there is no quick fix. We will work alongside partners and invest in training and skilling people. A good example is how we work with our suppliers here who, by the way, employ over 6,000 people on our projects. We provide them intensive training and mentoring. I am also impressed by how partners, like TASL in particular, have set up programmes to skill their blue collars, and I believe there are lessons in this.
What are your expectations from the new Defence Procurement Procedure?
If it succeeds in simplifying processes, cutting the time it currently takes between issuing a tender and its closure, it will be good. It should have sufficient checks and balances to not let the process stall for unqualified reasons.
The concept of strategic partnerships in the context of the Aatre Committee report needs a closer look. The segmentation, duration of exclusivity, their ability to partner and to consolidate needs to be fully assessed.
