Italy's Fincantieri eyes India tie-ups for naval platforms

New Delhi: Italy's largest warship manufacturer sees significant opportunities in partnering with India, with its top executive saying that combining India's manufacturing expertise with advanced technologies can create competitive solutions for both regional and global markets.

Fincantieri, which already has a presence in India and won a ₹2,000 crore contract last year for supply of heavy weight torpedoes through its subsidiary WASS, says India is a natural partner for long-term industrial and technological collaboration.

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"By combining India's manufacturing expertise with Fincantieri's advanced technologies in maritime defence, offshore platforms and environmentally sustainable ships, we see the opportunity to jointly shape competitive solutions for both regional and global markets," Fincantieri's CEO and Managing Director, Pierroberto Folgiero said.In an interview with ET ahead of Italian defence minister Guido Crosetto's visit to India, Folgiero said that over the next decade, the company's objective is to work with Indian partners on a variety of next generation vessels and maritime solutions.

"In India, we see cooperation evolving in high-value technological domains - complex platform design, combat system integration, advanced propulsion, digital ship management and the underwater domain," he said, adding that there is an opportunity to explore the creation of an engineering hub in the country.

Describing India as a priority, the executive said that Fincantieri is entering a new phase of strategic maritime collaboration with India as it stands out for the scale and depth of engineering talent, increasingly sophisticated manufacturing base and a supply chain that is rapidly moving up the value curve.

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Folgiero also mentioned possible collaboration for an upcoming Indian plan to acquire large Landing Platform Dock (LPD) warships, pointing out that Fincantieri has built the "Trieste" for the Italian Navy, the latest LPD to be commissioned globally.

As reported by ET, the Indian Navy has signed a contract with Fincantieri's subsidiary WASS for Black Shark Advanced (BSA) torpedos that will be integrated onto the Kalvari class of submarines.

While the first batch has been acquired under the "Buy Global" procedure, WASS is also working on possible additional batches of the weapon system to be procured under "Make In India", which includes localisation, industrial partnerships and Transfer of Technology (ToT).

The Italian company has been engaging with several Indian companies to establish a collaboration for the local production of the Black Shark Advanced, which could include manufacturing of high-technology torpedo components and a transfer of the torpedo assembly line to India.