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Altran India: Making its Presence felt in the Indian Aerospace Industry

Anamika Sahu & Vignesh.A
Tuesday, November 5, 2013
Anamika Sahu & Vignesh.A
India, a country that consumes one out of every six Airbus aircrafts manufactured worldwide; stands ninth in aviation and aerospace, is moving towards being the world's fifth biggest in this vertical. The country also takes pride in being the sixth largest producer of nuclear energy. It was just a matter of time before the world's top global aviation and nuclear energy companies started to explore the immense potential on offer in the Indian aviation market. Amongst these global players are several European companies which are strongly establishing their mark despite lagging behind in terms of a local industrial presence. Making its presence felt is France-based global consulting firm Altran (ALT.PA), a Paris Stock Exchange listed company, which plunged into the unexplored market in 2004 through Altran India. Eight years hence, the Bangalore-based company has a dominant presence in the aerospace and nuclear industry and works behind the scenes very closely with names such as Airbus and a host of other established aviation firms.
The innovation giant initially got into the Indian market in part due to the Indian Government's decision to impose 'offset' legislature for all defense procurement contracts, requiring a minimum amount of work to be undertaken inside India. "We were initially headquartered in New Delhi, but we soon moved base to Bangalore, because of the availability of a trained workforce of bright, talented young people," says Sanjay Kumar, CEO, Altran India.

Altran globally is focused around Technology and Innovation consulting that spans across different domains including Aerospace and defense; Automotive, Infrastructure and Transportation; Energy and industry; Financial services and several others. In 2003, the company joined hands with Solar Impulse as engineering partner to help them invent the world's first solar plane. The solar powered manned aircraft, named Solar Impulse was able to fly across two continents; however, they are working towards overcoming the challenge of flying it day and night using only solar energy even in adverse climates. "Providing such innovative consulting is in the DNA of Altran, and we have incorporated the same to our core philosophy," says Mr. Kumar.

Within India, Altran's focus is majorly in two industries: aerospace and nuclear. Aerospace is their biggest practice in India and paddles both civil and military aerospace or defense. The company partners with some of the biggest aerospace manufacturers in the world in helping them develop technology solutions through a broad range of activities from stress analysis in structures to fatigue analysis to flight physics studies. Kumar explains, "India beholds tremendous opportunity in both aerospace and defense and we are looking at how we can participate in this market over a period of time as it grows both in the civil side in terms of working with the global aircraft companies which work in India and on the defense side either through joint ventures or through partnering with local players who seek our expertise".

Altran has also developed an intelligence system practice that works both at systems integration in avionics and also in aerospace. Every Altran employee is committed to bring their client's most complex projects to life and boost performance through their vast expertise in technology and innovation processes. Where creative ideas become a reality, Altran consultants step up to transform them into innovative solutions that can enable technological progress. Tagged as a French company, Altran already is a level up than other players in the space and with India operations taking off, they are able to provide services to a wider geography particularly allowing them to access markets in the Middle East and South East Asia and even across west coast U.S.

Adopting to Indian Methodologies and Driving Success

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