Rafale deal offsets: JVs to help create 3,500 top jobs in India

France’s Thales is confident of creating more than 3,500 high-end jobs in India over the next three years, as it executes $1 billion (Rs 6,850 crore) worth of offsets over the Rafale fighter jet deal in partnership with local companies Bharat Electronics and Reliance Defence.

The company, which had revenue in excess of $17 billion in 2016, is looking at India as a major hub for international orders, and has pledged to transfer key technology for radars, optronics and integration of systems to partners here, with a top executive saying that it would mean creation of thousands of jobs.

“We are talking of thousands of jobs. Today we are at 1,500 and plan to be in the range of 5,000 in the next three years. We are taking of high-end jobs that require (world class) engineering competencies. We are in partnership with institutions like IITs and the Indian Institute of Science to skill people for these,” senior executive vice-president Pascale Sourisse told ET.

Globally, the company has 65,000 employees and is a major contributor to Dassault’s Rafale fighter jet that has been ordered by India. As part of the contract, it has to invest $1 billion in the Indian defence and aviation sector. Sourisse said the company recently obtained final clearances for its joint venture with Reliance Defence and would now start building facilities at Nasik.

“We have received final approvals a few days ago and now will build facilities that will implement technology transfer. We will work with Reliance and other players a well. We are transferring core technologies for the aircraft particularly in the radars and electronic warfare domain to Bharat Electronic s Limited.”

The plan is to leverage the company’s JVs in India for international orders, with the executive saying that the idea was to address global demand with exports from India, following the technology transfer. For future plans in India, Thales plans to target long-range radars, sonar systems for the navy and air traffic control systems with dual use.