India emerging as a technology destination

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India is the ‘go to destination’ in the existing scenario and is transforming from a low-cost destination to technology-focused destination, shares Rajendra Velagapudi, Senior VP – Business Excellence at Cyient and MD & CEO, Cyient DLM, in an exclusive interview. He talks about Cyient’s huge focus onDesign-Led Manufacturing (DLM) approach, the market opportunity and how DLM is helping augment the ‘Designed in India, Made in India’ model. Excerpts:

Tell us more about Cyient’s Design Led Manufacturing approach. What is the spectrum of services that you offer under DLM?

Cyient has been successfully providing engineering solutions to our customers for more than two and half decades. Cyient’s DLM setup is an initiative to provide integrated turn-key product development solutions to our customers. This includes (and is not restricted to) – Build to Print, Build to Specs and New Product development Initiatives. This aligns to our strategy of S3 (Services, Systems and Solutions).

Could you give us some interesting examples of application of DLM across different verticals of Cyient?

Since the time we acquired the EMS and Precision Manufacturing setup, we have had successes in the industries of Aerospace (airborne system), medical, communications, etc. We have a an airborne product that does the critical functionality for cargo door management, our medical product has been mentioned by none other than our Prime Minister himself, another medical product manufactured by us has won the prestigious ‘Graham Bell Award 2017 for the innovation and new technology, our communication product is helping the digital India program under Make in India initiative, etc. Here there are a lot of success stories that we proudly boast of today.

What is the market that you are addressing through Design Led Manufacturing? How much of this market have you managed to capture?

Our approach has been to expand the horizons of engineering and thereby providing a ‘turn-key’, one-stop-shop experience to our customers. Some of our projects where we would have erstwhile done only the engineering aspects have translated to manufacturing that is design led, synonymous to the brand of the new entity (Cyient Design Led Manufacturing Ltd.). We have seen early wins in engaging with existing and new customers in Design Led Manufacturing. Though our focus earlier was with overseas customers, the new entity is helping us address domestic needs—not only commercial, but defense as well.

How is DLM business faring Y-O-Y?

We see a YoY growth of close to 20% and expect to continue the same in the years to come. There are several RFQs of Build to Specifications which translates to several millions of USD with good profit margins.

How is DLM helping augment the ‘Designed in India, Made in India’ model?

Cyient DLM is adding impetus to the government’s Make in India program. There is a lot of emphasis on manufacturing for the Make in India program, which we address using our Build to Print engagement model. We have a very significant role to play in the Digital India program under Make in India initiative. Besides that we have also invested in R&D for various Indian Defense engagements, which is yielding positive results.

How do you perceive India as a market? Comment on the challenges and opportunities in your segment.

India is the ‘go to destination’ in the existing scenario. The very fact that all OEMs are setting shop in India or are trying to collaborate with organizations like Cyient is the clear demonstrator of the focus. From a low cost destination, India is now emerging as technology focused destination, which has huge potential in the space of medical, communications, digital etc. Defense which used to be main contributor for business, especially from import perspective has been graduating towards India being technology hub, owing to the offset policies.

What kind of growth prospects do you foresee in the future in the Indian market?

Manufacturing will be a huge focus for India in the times to come. Hence various JVs have flourished recently. Having said that, since India does not remain a low cost destination anymore, the technology development is an obvious ask, which incidentally companies like Cyient are very actively working on. Hence we shall see more Indian OEMs emerging.

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