Egis, a France head-quartered group offering engineering, project structuring and operations in a variety of fields including transport, urban development, water, environment, roads and airports, is bullish on its prospects in India. In an interview with BusinessLine , Nicolas Jachiet, Chairman and CEO, Egis Group, and Ashish Tandon, MD, Egis in India, explain why. Excerpts:

How do you see the future given that the Government is looking at taking flying to the masses?

Tandon: I would say it is the beginning. What the Government has been saying has been translated into ground reality in this sector. They tendered out for 12 airports which never happened before.

Are you participating in any?

Tandon: We have already won three. Actually, four but we left Srinagar for various reasons. Now Vijayawada is not only tendered out it has been decided and there is huge pressure to meet delivery schedules. Like in Lucknow we have been asked to pre-pone deliveries. There is urgency and seriousness. There is a perceptible change in the approach.

Between the Manmohan Singh and the Modi Government?

Tandon: I will not go to the political part. I will say that this change or this tender has happened in the last one year.

The company has been in India for 20 years. What kind of ramp up has there been between this and the previous government?

Tandon: My organisation has been growing at the rate of 20 per cent in the last four to four-and-a-half years.

Just about the time the Modi Government came to power...

Tandon: I will not give credit to Modi. I will take credit because I came in four-and-a-half years ago and that is the way we have been growing. Our order book has grown almost 100 per cent in the last one year. I do not want to get into political compulsions. In India, earlier, elections were fought on roti , kapada and makaan (food, clothing and housing) today it is roti,kapada , makaan , sadak , pani aur bijli (roads, water and electricity). No matter which government, the public will demand these six things.

Jachiet: Beyond political considerations strategically at the Group level we have identified India as a big market with huge needs in infrastructure which remains a bottleneck for growth.

Many of the sectors that you are in are a priority for the current Government. Any fixed amount that the company has put aside for the Indian market?

Jachiet: We are a Group that is working in different infrastructure fields so different projects fall in our capabilities. In India, we have the full range of our capabilities in engineering, roads, rail, water, ports, airports, cities and buildings so we do not choose one sector we might choose projects because we are interested in delivering quality. Some sectors are recent in India like airports where we have won three projects as earlier it was more internal within the Government in this sector. Now they require consulting engineers from outside so we are happy to work on that.

As part of the scale-up has there been an increase in the workforce in India?

Tandon: In the last one year we have gone from 1,200 to 2,200 and we should be about 2,500 by June 2018.

There is a lot of activity in metro rail, the Government is looking at creating smart cities and airports so what will be your priority?

Tandon: We are doing Chandigarh and Bhubaneshwar smart cities. We are doing the Chennai Metro, Kolkata Metro, Pune, Mumbai line 3 and Kochi.

For how long will that keep your hands full before you can look at more projects?

Tandon: India is the largest subsidiary outside France. It is a focus area for our CEO. One-tenth of the total Eegis group workforce is here.

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