Tata Technologies is aiming high for the domestic as well as offshore market. The engineering and design (E&D) subsidiary of Tata Motors has targeted to increase its revenues from services to the engineering, automobile and aerospace industries more than fourfold to Rs 4,500 crore ($1 billion), from the current Rs 1,000 crore by 2010, according to managing director Patrick McGoldrick.

"We are aspiring to be a total global solutions provider in the area of PLM (product lifecycle management), and engineering & design. So far we focused more on the regional market. We are aggressively eyeing for more projects from the global original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) and aerospace industry," said McGoldrich. Along with natural organic growth, inorganic expansion through acquisitions will help us reach our target faster, he added.

"We are eyeing technology companies, which have already won the trust of leading OEMs and aerospace companies. In this way, major clients, who work with the companies we wish to acquire, become our clients. We will target technology companies in Europe, the US and south-east Asia for acquisitions," Tata Technologies MD said. According to industry sources, Tata Technologies is planning two-three acquisitions in the next two years. These acquisitions will be in the areas such as product design & engineering, knowledge-based engineering, and product lifecycle management.

The company last year completed its latest acquisition - of UK-based Incat International. Tata Technologies' offshore capabilities are complimented by the high-end onshore strengths of Incat. Tata Tech undertakes projects to drive down development, cut manufacturing and delivery costs, ensure manufacturing ability, and reduce time-to-market through strategic development and application of software, onsite engineering automation and IT support and EPO (engineering process outsourcing).

With a presence in Pune and Bangalore, locally, and in the US, the UK and Asia Pacific, the company employs a total of 3,000 engineers across all its centres. It has plans to expand in other Indian metros as well. Incat has tech centres in Stuttgart (Germany), London and Detroit (US). According to Tata Technologies officials, by 2010, the global auto and aerospace-related E&D market is likely to be around $50 billion, and India has the potential to tap 10 per cent of that.

"Today, the E&D space in India is placed at a position similar what IT had in the late 1990s, when companies including TCS, Infosys and Wipro witnessed exponential growth," McGoldrich said.