The Hindu Business Line : Thales eyes strong presence here

GROWTH POTENTIAL: Mr Reynald Seznec (left), Senior Vice-President, Operations, Thales, and Mr Jean-Paul Lepeytre, Senior Vice-President and Deputy Director, Security Solutions and Services, at a press conference in Chennai on Thursday. — Bijoy Ghosh

Chennai May 31 Thales, a France-based international electronics and security systems group, is in talks with authorities in large cities for contracts in signalling, security and civil applications in rail transport systems, according to Mr Jean-Paul Lepeytre, Senior Vice-President and Deputy Director (Security Solutions and Services).

Speaking to Business Line on the sidelines of a news conference organised by the company to inaugurate its software centre, he said that Thales recently bagged a multimillion-euro contract to provide a ticketing system for the New Delhi Metro rail subway.

Thales, which operates in the Defence, aerospace and security segments, entered new service lines five years ago of transportation, civil security, energy and information assurance (including e-governance).

Today these lines contribute 3.2 billion to its revenues of over 10 billion. Thales sees potential in India for systems aiding rail, mainly urban, bus and other modes of transportation, Mr Lepeytre said.

The company is also planning to look at developing e-governance applications for India next year, he added.

It has so far developed such solutions for France, Spain and the UK.

To aid its expansion plans in India, the company has invested 1-million to set up Thales Software India, a software development centre, at Chennai. The centre, with 82 employees, works on global software development and domain specific system engineering. This includes developing frameworks for in-flight entertainment systems, air traffic management and avionic simulation systems.

R&D facility

The company has plans to develop the Chennai centre into an R&D facility in the long term and increase headcount to 1,000 by 2010. The centre may also work on Defence projects for the Indian armed forces, said Mr Reynald Seznec, Senior Vice-President (Operations).

Thales has developed many applications for the armed forces such as air Defence radar, sonars, optronics and the recent supply and technology transfer of six Scorpene submarines.

"We also have plans to enter into joint ventures with companies for developing specific requirements," he said at the conference, without sharing any names.

The company recently entered into a joint venture with Bangalore-based Rudradev Aviation to develop aircraft simulators for training purposes.