French aviation companies have major presence in India

Bangalore, Feb 5 (UNI) The booming aviation spectrum and availability of IT mind power in India has led to top French aviation companies, equipment maker Safran and world's leading civilian and military aircraft maker Dassault to set up subsidiaries in the country.

Speaking to mediapersons after a media tour of the Safran development facility here, Safran Aerospace India (SAI) National Executive Vincent Gorry said the volume of the Indian subsidiary's activities had increased by 60 per cent last year.

''We are looking forward to more Indian aviation development programmes. The participation of SAI in Shakti engine project for ALH, being jointly developed by France and India, has been significant since this programme is the first engine co-development between HAL and Safran through its subsidiary Turbomeca,'' he said.

SAI Managing Director Sebastien Jaulerry said that through a continuous policy of investment in equipment and training reaching 11 million euros since 2002, SAI had been able to offer best quality service to Indian customers.

In the Indian development centre, 350-plus engineers were involved in the design and development of major aerospace programmes including aircraft like Airbus 380, Boeing 787, Sukhoi Superjet 100 and Dhruv ALH.

He said Safran had a 50-year-long presence in India. Its engines, avionics and equipment were fitted on nearly all the aircraft operated in the country, both by airliners and armed forces. It had tied up with India's defence majors like HAL, BEL and DRDO.

Meanwhile, Mr Suman Bose, Country Manager of the city-based Dassault Systems (DS), a subsidiary of Dassault Aviation, said DS, a world leader in product lifecycle management software powered by 3-D representation, enabled businesses of all sizes in all industries to digitally define and simulate products.

Speaking to mediapersons, he said DS was bullish on acquisitions and had acquired nine companies for 1.2 billion Dollars and set a performance guidance of 1.6 billion dollars for the fourth quarter of the current fiscal, he added.

GIFAS, the French aerospace industries association, had over 250 members, from major prime contractors and system suppliers to small specialist companies, and about 35 member companies along with 100 delegates would take part in the Aero India 2007, beginning here on Wednesday.

UNI