'We Are Changing Gears And Leveraging The Make In India Policy'

Thales India, part of the Thales Group – one of the world’s largest defence suppliers – is betting big on India along with China and the US. Of late, Thales has acquired a few companies in the digital space to expand in data analytics and cybersecurity. Patrice Caine, Chairman and CEO of the Thales Group, speaks to Business Today’s Prosenjit Datta and Manu Kaushik on the next big areas and what makes India attractive. Edited excerpts:

- Prosenjit Datta & Manu Kaushik

Is Thales a government company? The French government owns 26 per cent in it.

PATRICE CAINE: We are privately listed on the Paris Stock Exchange. We have two large shareholders, but they do not own Thales. Dassault owns 25 per cent and the French state 26 per cent.

Your electronics are at the heart of most of the systems. In defence, do you work directly with armed forces or contractors of armed forces?

Both. We are in five domains. Defence is 50 per cent and civil is 50 per cent. We have many civil customers such as airlines, satellite operators and transport operators; we do signalling, communications and supervision systems for 80 metros in 40 cities. This is apart from big corporates in security and cybersecurity. In defence, typically, when we sell military satellites, we deal directly with ministries of defence. When we are onboard a strategic platform, be it Rafale or any ship or submarine platform, we go through clients.

Where do you see growth in India?

We enjoy a favourable positioning in the five markets where we are positioned – defence, aeronautics, space, security and ground transportation. Ground transportation needs are immense in India and we can provide state-of-the-art signalling systems. Many new metros are coming up in India. Defence is booming everywhere. We are seeing more and more cyberattacks everywhere. We are well-positioned in all these markets. We are growing substantially in India.

Recently, you took over cybersecurity firm Gemalto. Is the integration complete?