The Hindu Business Line : Quantech expands India business, eyes Asia-Pacific region

QUANTECH Global Services, a technology engineering design solutions provider for the automotive industry, is now eyeing the Asia-Pacific market with its R&D services, and is in the process of further expansion of India centres both at Hyderabad and Bangalore.

The President of Quantech Global, Mr Mukesh Gandhi, and the company Chief Financial Officer, Mr David Zischke, told Business Line that the company had recently bagged contracts from a few automotive companies in the region, including some multinational automobile corporations who have established their centres in India.

"After some of the company's earlier announcements to increase the headcount and invest about $5 million in India over the next two years, we have been now approached by some automotive manufactures in the region as also some equipment suppliers for design work. This has now called for the expansion of our facilities both at Hyderabad and Bangalore.

"In Bangalore, we are negotiating for development of property at Whitefield and expect to freeze the deal shortly. This would entail creating of a 50,000 sq. ft Indian centre," Mr Gandhi said.

"We work with who's who of the automotive industry such as Ford, Toyota, DiamlerChrysler, and other players such as Visteon for their global operations. As many of these players are looking at the Asian region, particularly, China and India, they are also expanding their businesses in the region. This has opened up business opportunity for us. To support the Japanese region, we have now set up a centre there," Mr Zischke said.

"If you look at the automobile industry, there are projections that indicate that the Chinese market is set to grow to about 10 million from the present 2 million cars in the next few years. The Indian industry is also set to follow suit. When manufacturers in the region try and scale up operations and meet global standards, they are faced with challenges of research and design," Mr Gandhi said.

"For instance, there are no crash tests in the sub-continent. But when these automotive makers plan to target overseas markets, they have to comply with the US and European norms. This can be best handled through engineering design services. So is the case with noise and vibration levels and emission control norms. With our Indian R&D centre offering an attractive option, we expect this to grow rapidly," they explained.