Betting on aero biz, TAL Manufacturing eyes Rs 1k cr turnover

Tata Motors arm TAL Manufacturing Solutions is betting big on its aerospace business as it eyes a five-fold increase in turnover to Rs 1,000 crore in the next five years, for which it will invest Rs 100 crore to augment its manufacturing capacity.
The company expects its aerospace vertical, with supplies players such as Boeing and RUAG Group - a tier I parts supplier for Airbus - to contribute up to 70 per cent of its turnover by 2021 while the rest would come from robotics and other allied businesses.
TAL has already started selling from July this year its industrial articulated robot BRABO priced between Rs 4-10 lakh as it looks to tap the opportunity in small and medium enterprises sector in India by offering cost effective solutions.

"Today, our revenue is around Rs 220 crore. We are looking at five-times growth in our revenue in the next five years," TAL Manufacturing Solutions Executive Director and CEO Rajesh Khatri told PTI.
Sharing the break-up of the target, he said the aerospace vertical is likely to account for Rs 650-700 crore and the rest would come from robotics and allied business in automotive and heavy engineering.
When asked about investments to meet the target, Khatri said the company plans to invest about Rs 100 crore in the next two to three years for setting up a third unit for composites and large assemblies.

TAL already has a unit dedicated for supplies to Boeing and another one to meet its commitments to the RUAG Group at its Nagpur facility.

In terms of employment, Khatri said the company could increase the headcount to 1,200-1,250 by 2021 from the current 880.
The company had last week shipped the 5,000th advanced composite floor beam assemblies for Boeing 787-Dreamliner. It had started supplies to the US aerospace major from its Nagpur facility in October 2014.
Khatri said the company is also looking for "several new packages" in the aerospace segment as it looks to expand portfolio. These could include fuselage parts, sheet metals and composites.

On the robotics segment, he said: "From the end of July this year we have started selling our robot. We intend to offer cost effective solutions with strong value proposition to small and medium enterprises in India which need automation but don't have that big capital to invest on it.