Engineering services exports cross Rs 10,000 crore mark

The engineering services exports (excluding software product engineering, semiconductor design, and other high tech/telecom engineering) from India grew 25.6 percent in 2007-08 to reach Rs 10,110 crore, according to a study published by Dataquest, the flagship IT publication of CyberMedia group. The Indian third-party service providers (SPs) accounted for 56 percent of that revenue, while the captives had a share of 41 percent. The non-Indian third-party SPs accounted for the rest.

Aerospace and automotive industries led the engineering design and services outsourcing to India. A few recent developments in these industries have significantly impacted the engineering services outsourcing, said the Dataquest study. Some of these include-high oil prices leading to design of newer fuel-efficient cars, India's plans to buy 100 plus fighter aircrafts with significant offset requirements (which stipulates that 50 percent of the total contract value to any supplier will have to be spent locally), and the launch of Tata Motor's Nano, which has raised the profile of India as an automotive engineering base.

“All these developments have significantly enhanced the action in the engineering services outsourcing area. They have paved the way for the revenues to start flowing in beginning this year when we can expect the growth to accelerate sharply,” said Shyamanuja Das, Editor, Dataquest, who led the research.

The study also outlines that India's own market as a major automotive market has drawn many of the automotive manufacturers and their tier-1 OEM suppliers to India. Most of them have also used the opportunity to tap India's engineering talent. Car manufacturers such as Ford, GM, Chrysler Honda, and Volkswagen and their suppliers such as Delphi, Eaton, and Visteon have all set-up engineering design centers in India.

Top players
The top 15 firms account for 93 percent of the total engineering services exported by the India-based engineering services firms. TCS leads the list, followed by HCL and Satyam. The list itself is a mix of three types of players-the broad-based IT services firms such as TCS, HCL, Satyam, Infosys, and Wipro; the specialized players such as Infotech Enterprise, Quest, Geometric and Neilsoft; and the design arms of Indian engineering companies such as Tata Technologies, Mahindra Engineering Services and L&T Infotech.

Top 15 engineering services exporters (excluding IT/telecom)

* Dataquest estimates for exports revenues

Source: Dataquest review of the Indian IT industry volume 2