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Airbus to have Indian manufacturing base within next 3-4 years

     New Delhi: Leading aircraft maker Airbus Industrie is planning to establish a manufacturing base in India within next three-four years. "We plan to develop manufacturing base in India in the next three to four years. We don't want to copy what we have done in China. China started more on the manufacturing side, but the biggest development in India was on engineering and services sector," Eric Zenin, Head of Airbus Business Development and International Cooperation, said. Airbus Director International Cooperation Swaminathan Dwarakanath said: "If Airbus Industrie finds right partners and the right projects, the company plans an expenditure of about one billion dollars in India over the next ten years." Under its globalization program, the Airbus Industrie is planning to shift part of its operations out of Europe. Its Executive Vice President Christian Scherer said it planned to build up to twenty per cent of aero structures and thirty per cent of engineering sub- contracting offshore by 2020, and "India will get a large chunk of this business." Airbus Industrie already has five engineering centres outside Europe -- two in the US and one each in Bangalore, Beijing and Russia.
-Mar 24, 2009