With an intent to cash in on the areas of the Indian economy where our companies may not have adequate expertise, Spain’s engineering and technology group Sener has opened its first offices in India.
Sener, which started out as a marine engineering company, has now interests in engineering and construction, energy, environment, defence and aeronautics. The Euro 1.2 bn company employs around 5,000 people in 16 countries.
With its offices in New Delhi, Chennai and Mumbai, the company is approaching India in a very strategic manner. “In fact, India is the only country where Sener has come in with focus on all the top four verticals. Normally, we enter a country on the back of a specific business unit or a project that has led us there. Here we are seeing an opportunity in infrastructure and transport, power and process, aerospace and defence as well as in marine engineering,” CEO of Sener India Shaju Stephen told journalists recently, reported The Financial Express .
In infrastructure, Sener will focus on urban infrastructure and transportation initially before looking at ports and airport. The company is already working on re-development of Pune’s Shivaji Nagar and New Delhi’s Bijwasan railway stations. The company has worked on the Dedicated Freight Corridor project through partners, is bidding for high speed rail and helping with various Metro projects.
“Ship building across the world has moved East. And if you look at the shipyards in India, they are no longer catering to the commercial vessels and are working primarily on Naval projects. And we are very strong in submarines and aircraft carriers… for example the INS Vikramaditya was designed using our Foran software,” said Stephen.
Interestingly, Sener has already delivered for the Indian Navy in the past and its specialists are participating in the technical assistance for the construction of Project 17 frigate class lead ship being constructed at the Mazagon docks.
Dr Jorge Unda, Managing Director of Sener, said the company has high expectations from the Government in India because the areas in which development is needed are sectors where we can participate and provide technology. “Most probably in five to 10 years, India will become a significant part of our global business,” he added.
