Exclusive interview with Mr. Samir Yajnik, President – Sales and COO – Asia Pacific, Tata Technologies Ltd
Founded in 1989, Tata Technologies Ltd. (TTL) remains a leading Indian company with growing global footprint and with clients in 27 countries. Tata Technologies is mainly focused on industries and offers full end-to-end solutions covering sectors like automotive, aerospace and industrial machinery. Mr. Samir Yajnik, President – Sales and COO – Asia Pacific, in an exclusive interaction with MOTORINDIA, explains how the company’s innovative approach helps the automotive sector move ahead in terms of technological development.
The following are excerpts of the discussion with Mr. Samir:
MOTORINDIA: After the turbulent year of performance, the automotive industry is showing distinct signs of revival. What is your personal view?
Samir Yajnik: We could see the green shoots back in the overall automotive industry. The two-wheeler market is particularly exciting and the four-wheeler market is also looking up. Good that we invested in the slightly slow period, and now we expect to reap the benefits. Today, a lot of automotive companies are coming up with innovative technologies.
MI: We are aware of the success story of Tata Nano with the support of Tata Technologies. What do you have to say about it?
SY: Tata Nano is of course a multi-pronged success. L-550 is a good example. Inside and outside, it was built by Tata Technologies. We leveraged the experience learned from L-550 to get a significant programme in Chrysler. We got fully involved by responding to the situation by providing the required skill. We used the data acquired from CRM to help Tata Motors in identifying the buying trend to expand the market share. We are also offering services to Renault-Nissan and are in talks to offer more services, apart from what we are offering now.
We have now entered into an agreement with Honda Motors, under which we will be helping it in dealership management for its two-wheeler business. With this endeavour, we are entering the north Indian market.
MI: How is your focus on entry-level operations?
SY:We have a pedigree of not only designing the vehicle but also teardown, benchmarking and testing it. There is a lot happening in this space. We had the opportunity of being an integrated partner for the same and was allowed to even innovate. One of the OEMs in Japan recently contacted us to be its full service provider for testing of vehicles. We also recently got a requirement from a global OEM having operations in Pune to be their teardown, benchmarking and testing partner.
MI: What kind of services you offer in Thailand and who are your clients there?
SY: We service global customers from the delivery centre in Thailand. We work for JLR, Chrysler and others. We are looking to expand our operations here as well.
MI: You said the Indian engineering services market is worth $7 billion. How matured are we when compared with the developed countries?
SY: We could’ve taken the lead in making or developing products in India. Now, with the ‘Make in India’ and ‘Digital India’ initiatives, we feel encouraged to expand our manufacturing and export operations. This way, we can make India a global export hub. Frugal manufacturing and IOT put together would give us an advantage to innovate.
MI: How is the volume of Tata Technologies spread across different verticals?
SY: Over 65 per cent of our business is from the automotive field, nearly 10 per cent from aerospace and the rest from industrial machinery, which is one of our focused industry segments. Medical devices and Power sector are also potential areas of growth for us. Out of the overall automotive business revenue, about 20 per cent comes from Tata Motors.
MI: Do you have any clients in the auto components vertical?
SY: Yes, absolutely. In Asia Pacific, first we got Honda. We got businesses from logistics companies also. Lucas-TVS, Indo Nippon Electricals Ltd. (INEL), a part of the TVS Group, etc., are some of our major clients. We also reach out to Tier-1 and Tier-2 space also.
MI: Can you say for certain that the growth story continues for TTL?
SY: Yes, we are very much optimistic about our company’s growth prospects because we enter a field as a specialist and not as a generalist. We have three types of services – enablement, business value realization and transformation. Typically, the conversation starts with the customer by offering the right kind of solution which can enhance the company’s profitability. We also do some technology provisioning. So you can expect us to be great business advisors.
Mr. Samir Yajnik, a Bachelors degree in Mechanical Engineering from IIT Bombay and with his post-graduation in the US, started his career ushering in the age of knowledge-based engineering in Asia with his Singapore-based company.
At Tata Technologies, which he joined in 1996, Mr. Samir has been responsible for starting and growing the engineering and enterprise services business worldwide with stints in Singapore, the US and Europe. As President – Sales at Tata Technologies, he successfully steered the company business both in terms of new business acquisition and growing the existing engagements. He has been instrumental in building the business of using knowledge-based engineering systems for the automotive and aerospace industries.