Eaton Bullish On Soaring India-US Defence Ties To Shore Up Demands For Its Products

US-based power management major Eaton sees growth potential in India even as it gears up to support the Modi government’s ‘Make in India’ push in the defence sector.

Eaton's aerospace business currently has two manufacturing plants in India: Bangalore and Coimbatore.

Source : eaton.com

New Delhi: US-based power management major Eaton sees immense growth potential in the growing defence partnership between New Delhi and Washington as it hopes India will go for more and more American-made platforms to shore up demands for its products.

With a footprint spread across 41 global facilities, Eaton’s Aerospace Group manufactures hydraulic, fuel, oxygen, air conveyance, electrical, motion control, and engine solutions, and serves the leading OEMs in the industry.

“Eaton being a US company and India having much closer ties with the US would definitely drive more business for us. Specifically to the aerospace side I think more America-made platforms from fighter aircraft to transport helicopters and so on and so forth that helps drive a lot of demand for EATON products, because, on many of the American made platforms Eaton tends to have generally a lot of content on many of those platforms,” Desmond Goh, Managing Director (Asia Pacific), Aerospace Group, Eaton, told ABP Live in an interview.

In the aerospace industry, Eaton's portfolio includes hydraulic, fuel, oxygen, air conveyance, electrical, motion control, and engine solutions, as well as aftermarket service and support. Eaton serves commercial and military aerospace, marine, and defence markets worldwide.

“India having closer ties with the US will definitely drive more demand for Eaton products in the country through the acquisition of all those aircraft that India is buying,” Goh said during his recent visit to India for the Aero India 2023 held in Bengaluru.

Goh also added that the US-India Initiative on Critical and Emerging Technology (iCET), the first round of which was chaired by National Security Advisor Ajit Doval and his American counterpart Jake Sullivan, would also prove to be beneficial for the company.

“That’s something Eaton is now actively exploring as well… More electric aircraft, additive manufacturing, all kinds of cutting edge aerospace technology Eaton is involved in all these. With this (iCET) partnership between India and the US, would definitely help us a lot,” he said.

Eaton Keen On Supporting ‘Make in India’ Drive In Military Industry

According to Goh, India is one of largest military markets in the world and one of the key markets for Eaton.

“Make in India is definitely an area we are very interested in participating … We are actively looking at how we can add value to the military market and industry in India,” he said.

Goh highlighted: “In the past, suppliers like us would have all products designed, developed and manufactured outside in other countries and then having those delivered to the Indian military. I think moving forward with this whole thrust on ‘Make in India’, there will be lot more impetus to have the product manufactured in India locally.”

Eaton’s aerospace footprint in India includes two manufacturing plants in Coimbatore and Bengaluru and three sales offices in Coimbatore, Bengaluru, and Delhi, with engineering support from Pune.

“Given the recent geopolitical developments, it becomes more important for us to understand and support the Indian military market and how we can provide better support,” Goh said.