Dr. Dinesh A. Keskar - President, Boeing India

As the President of India operations, what all Boeing activities will you oversee?

The pace and depth of our engagement with Indian industry through products, services and partnering has increased in recent years. Boeing is pursuing a “One Boeing” integrated strategy to become India’s preferred aerospace and defense partner and provider. Now, we are ready for the next level with a plan designed to strengthen and enhance our ability to execute on the strategy. My role is to ensure Boeing and India develop a mutually beneficial relationship and this partnership reaches its fullest potential.

India is not only an important defense and aviation market, but due to India’s unique capabilities in technology, R&D, and manufacturing, among other things, we also believe India can play an important role in our global supply chain.

How would you compare the civil aviation market with the military aviation market in India?

India stands in a position of strength with a strong potential in both commercial aviation and defense markets.

In spite of the spike in the civil aviation market, I am bullish about its market opportunity of $105 billion in the next 20 years. While the world market has taken a big hit, as of now India continues to look positive. Boeing's major buyers in India, Air India, SpiceJet and Jet Airways have not had any cancellations. We have been working carefully to partner with our customers. We sold $25 billion worth of aircraft in the last three years. Hundred more are to be delivered in the next five years which is valued at $17 bn. With continued increase in GDP in India, air travel demand will continue to grow.

We have identified a defense aerospace market of $31 billion in the next 10 years. After the P8I sale, we have a good sense of what is needed by the ministry of defense and the forces. India will require a series of defense aircrafts to help ensure security for her people and infrastructure. Our defense products that we believe will suit India’s needs are the F/A-18 super Hornet, P8I, Chinook, C-17, apache, etc. The Boeing defense team in India, led by Vivek Lall, is actively engaged with the defense forces and the MOD to understand their requirements.

You have been mostly the head of more of civil aviation-centric activities of Boeing till now. How do you propose to handle the overall activities of Boeing in India as the IDS has some of the very key programmes which are very active in India including P-8I which is already moving well as a success, the MMRCA contender ship, C-17, etc.

In my new role I will be responsible for expanding the company’s local presence and over all growth and productivity initiatives in India.

India is not only an important defense and aviation market, but has unique capabilities in aerospace technology, R&D, and manufacturing, among other things. We are here to strengthen our partnership with India in these areas, amongst other things.

The defense business unit and its programmes in India are led by Dr Vivek Lall. Over and above my other responsibilities, I am here to help our defense group in achieving success in their initiatives.

How do you perceive the growth of Aero India since its inception?

I have attended all the Aero India shows to date and have delivered keynote address twice. Thus, I have been associated with the aero show for years now and am encouraged with its steady growth, especially in the defense sector. I am yet to see another aerospace biennial event of this scale in south Asia.

More than its size, I am optimistic of its focus on business, military and govt interactions leading to the growth of an aerospace industry in India. I am sure this show has been the platform for decisions that will help define and grow Indian Aerospace in the long run.

Can you give some details on any tie-up/ joint-venture/ MoU that would have been concluded during the show?

For the past few years, Boeing has actively pursued MOUs and tie ups with Indian aerospace majors to ensure we build a strong aerospace industry base. We have already passed the stage of laying the foundation. This year our focus is to take those relationships to the next level with program execution and meeting our commitments.

How satisfied do you feel with the outcome of participation at Aero India and please advise if there is any message for the organizers.

The event was an excellent platform for the defense sector and provides a good opportunity for global aerospace players to tap the Indian industry for mutual benefit. The quality and quantity of the participation was excellent.

As expected, with the present commercial aviation slowdown, we experienced a smaller participation from the commercial sector. This may be due to fact that a Civil Air Show was held in Hyderabad in October 2008.

The organizers did an excellent job of managing an event of this size. I read somewhere that the show had a total of 592 firms, including 303 global players showcasing their products, services and technologies to the defense forces and the aviation industry.