Tata Technologies is scaling up its aerospace and MRO (maintenance, repair and operations) business in India and abroad as airlines and original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) step up digital and engineering spends to cut turnaround time and aircraft-on-ground events. The company expects the share of MRO in aerospace revenue to rise to 40-45% over the next two to three years, Keith Matthews, executive vice president and head – aerospace sales, Tata Technologies, tells Akbar Merchant.
Tell us about your presence in India in the aerospace and MRO vertical and how you see it evolving. What does this mean for the revenue mix?
We currently support a leading aviation customer in India across two base locations — Bengaluru and Delhi — with over 40 dedicated resources, contributing around 15-20% of Tata Technologies’ revenues in the current financial year. Structurally, aerospace engineering and MRO services are entering a multi-year growth phase, driven by higher fleet utilisation, aircraft delivery delays, and cost pressures. MRO today contributes about 30% of our aerospace revenues, and we expect this to rise to 40-45% over the next two to three years, led by in-service engineering, digital MRO, AI-led maintenance and shopfloor digitalisation.
Aerospace customers are expanding digital and engineering budgets. What does this mean for revenue visibility?
The nature of aerospace engineering engagements has changed materially across the board. Earlier, contracts were largely transactional and typically low single-digit million-dollar deals. Today, we are increasingly seeing mid- to high-single-digit million-dollar annual contracts, with select multi-year programmes reaching the low tens of millions of dollars. Additionally, contracts are now longer with a three to five year horizon and have broader scopes covering design, industrialisation, digital platforms and lifecycle support. This shift significantly improves revenue visibility, predictability and long-term growth.
How central is AI-led and predictive maintenance to your MRO strategy and growth outlook?
AI-led maintenance is a core pillar of our aerospace digital engineering road map. We are embedding predictive analytics, digital twins and automated diagnostics across aircraft systems and maintenance platforms. This enables a shift from reactive or calendar-based maintenance to predictive and prescriptive models, helping customers improve fleet availability, reduce turnaround time and maintain strict safety and regulatory compliance.
What value does predictive maintenance deliver in business terms?
Predictive maintenance allows airlines to move from firefighting to planned operations. Using real-time aircraft data and AI models, airlines can plan manpower, spare parts and logistics well in advance. Typically, this translates into 10-20% reductions in maintenance costs and 15-30% lower aircraft downtime, as emergency repairs and aircraft-on-ground events decline. The outcome is higher fleet utilisation, better on-time performance and stronger operating margins, without compromising safety.
How are supply-chain constraints and fleet utilisation trends shaping demand for engineering services?
Supply-chain disruptions and delayed aircraft deliveries are forcing airlines and OEMs to extract more value from existing fleets. This has raised demand for in-service engineering, reliability improvements, maintenance optimisation and digital tools that extend asset life. As a result, engineering services are moving closer to the operational core of airline and OEM decision-making, rather than remaining discretionary spending.
How do you balance near-term revenue opportunities with longer-gestation future programmes such as electric aircraft and urban air mobility?
Our strategy is to anchor growth in core aerospace engineering and MRO services that offer scale, margins and revenue visibility, while selectively investing in emerging areas such as electric aviation, drones and advanced air mobility. These newer segments are still early-stage today but represent important long-term opportunities. This balanced approach allows us to maintain near-term financial discipline while positioning the business for the next phase of aerospace transformation.