TCS eyes Boeing deal

Boeing may outsource Rs 8500 crore work to India

BY A CORRESPONDENT
March 2006
Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) hopes to take a bite out of the huge outsourcing contract which India stands to gain following the recent mega-order placed by Air India for 68 Boeing wide-bodied planes. The contracts are estimated to be about Rs 8500 crore.

TCS is already a Tier-I supplier to Boeing, supporting several important Boeing projects including the Dreamliner.

As part of the offset clause in the plane purchase, Boeing will have to outsource a lot of the related work, to India. Boeing has already made it clear that it wants the Indian companies to do this work. According to TCS Vice President and Head of Engineering and Industrial Services Ravi Gopinath, there may be many others in the fray, but he hoped that the pie will be big enough for everyone.

He also said the Boeing offshoring strategy in this regard is not clear yet. The outsourcing contracts will be spread over a decade. As part of the mega-deal, Boeing is also planning to set up a maintenance, repair and overhaul (MRO) facility in India, apart from a pilot training center for Air India.