Wipro Infra inks pact with CESA for aerospace, defence mfg

NEW DELHI: Wipro Infrastructure Engineering today said it has signed an agreement with Spanish firm Compania Espanola De Sistemas Aeronauticos (CESA) for manufacturing of precision engineered components for the aerospace and defence sector.

CESA is a subsidiary of the global Aerospace and Defence Corporation, EADS.

"The agreement involves transfer of technology as well as manufacturing workload for Aerospace actuators and related precision engineered components from CESA to Wipro," the company (WIE) said in a statement.

As an initial investment, the company will invest about USD 15 million.

"Aerospace and defence (A&D) is a huge opportunity area for us to leverage our core competences... We shall be investing about USD 15 million in the initial phase in establishing a greenfield venture for the manufacture of these components in the new SEZ for Aerospace being set up at Devanahalli by Karnataka," WIE President Pratik Kumar said.

The plan is to start serial production towards end of 2012, he added.

WIE, a division of Wipro, provides precision engineered hydraulic cylinders and components. It is a supplier to global Original Equipment Manufacturers (OEMs) of construction and earth moving machinery, material handling equipment, heavy and medium commercial vehicles across Asia and Europe.

"Apart from the advantage of having a strong outsourcing partner for our current programmes, EADS and CESA will also have a reliable and credible partner to meet Offset obligations in India," CESA Managing Director Jose Leal said.

Further, the Wipro-CESA combine will be able to jointly explore new and emerging opportunities in the Asia Pacific and other emerging markets, Leal added.