Finmeccanica, the Italian group with leadership in aerospace, defence, security, energy and transport, is looking at establishing new partnerships with government and private players to expand its base in India.
Senior company officials told FE at Aero India 2011 that, ?As a part of the growth strategy for the Indian market, Finmeccanica wants to adapt the approach of anticipating new programmes and then seeking early involvement through transfer of technology and capabilities by creating strong synergies with the partners.?
?We expect annual orders from India to double in the next four to five years, as India has plans to buy more weapons and aircraft,? Orders could reach 500 million euros from 250 million euros it received annually in the past four years, according to the company’s chief operating officer Giorgio Zappa.
Finmeccanica’s unit AgustaWestland has already received a contract to supply 12 AW101 helicopters to the Indian Air Force (IAF). Finmeccanica has been present in India for over 40 years operating in the Indian region where company has a success story to share.
?The most significant industrial presence of Finmeccanica in India, is represented by the Ansaldo STS subsidiary in Bangalore that was established in 1996 with the aim of supplying signalling automation and control systems on South Asian markets. Ansaldo STS? in India counts around 350 highly-skilled employees, who are an important asset of the entire Finmeccanica Group?s human resources operating in India of about 400,? said company executives.
Speaking about the Indian defence market, Zappa said, ?Indian ministry of defence?s current agenda to expand the defence industrial base, encourage indigenous defence production and reduce defence imports is commendable as that will ensure India faster approaching towards indigenisation. We want to expand our presence by showing our technologies with the capabilities of local partners.?
Finmeccanica currently has significant partnerships with key public companies such as Bharat Electronic, Bharat Heavy Electrical, Hindustan Aeronautics and Bharat Dynamics as well as with private companies such as Tata Sons and HCL. In this framework AgustaWestland and Tata Sons established a JV for the final assembly of the single-engine AW119 helicopter for India and global markets.