"Thales has been in India for 65 years and is now changing gears and leveraging the Make in India policy. The new engineering R&D centre will not only serve the Indian market or product lines but will also to cater to export markets.
India is an innovative country and a fantastic hub in terms of competitiveness. The country is occupied with a lot of skilled engineers. That’s why the company has decided to open an R&D centre here. It is also a source of competitiveness in supply chain when we deal with Indian suppliers/partners. India is a country where you find competent engineers, as R&D is at the heart of what we do.
Out of 65,000 people in Thales, 25,000 are in R&D. That’s why being in countries with highly qualified engineers is extremely important to us. We foresee Thales employing 5,000 people in the next three years in India.
If you look at our 25,000 people in R&D, 3,000 are dedicated to R&T. Of the remaining 22,000 R&D people, 17,000 are in system and software. Around 5,000 are in other disciplines - optics, mechanics, etc."
Excerpts from Patrice Caine’s interview with Business Today