. I am going to the
Paris Air Show next week and we expect to announce a couple of very big deals at the show. So, aerospace continues to represent significant demand and by association growth for
Tata Technologies," says
Warren Harris, CEO & MD, Tata Tech.
Well, they are certainly planning to exit their holding in
Tata Technologies, I think that that is largely done now. But TPG continues to be a partner for Tata Technologies. They have an incredible team not just in India, but also in the US and we will continue to take advantage of the insights and the market understanding that they have. They made an investment decision given tariffs to reduce their exposure to parts of the automotive sector and that has what prompted their divestment and so we respect their decision making, but we will continue to work hard to stay close to them and take advantage of the relationships that we build.
I still think there is a certain amount of uncertainty that is out there, but the commitment that the US has demonstrated to trade negotiations and the completion of trade deals between territories like the United States and the UK has certainly given confidence to the markets and we are seeing some of the decisions that were right shifted at the beginning of the quarter start to flow follow through now into commitments that we are converting and so, we expect to finish the quarter relatively strongly from a deal signings perspective. Numbers will be somewhat muted in the first quarter, but we are anticipating improvements in Q2 and we are anticipating given the order book a strong finish in H2.
Along with that we are already seeing the impact of the rare earth mineral shortage, any impact that you are already seeing and is this impacting the auto demand already or is it too soon to comment?
Warren Harris: We have been exposed to concerns that have been raised by some of our customers and some of their suppliers, particularly the battery manufacturers. But we are really not seeing it play out yet in terms of caution as it pertains to decision-making. So, there are concerns out there. There are I guess concerns that this issue could build into something that is meaningful. But as of right now, most of our clients are positioning a wait and watch in terms of what happens particularly in the context of the trade negotiations that are currently going on in London between the US and China.
What about the aerospace and industrial heavy machinery demand then? Does the strong growth in these segments make up for the sluggish auto demand?
Warren Harris: At this point in time, our mix is very much biased towards automotive. Over 80% of our services business is related to automotive OEMs and their associated supply chain and so it is very difficult for the other verticals to make up any shortfall in automotive. Having said that we continue to see very strong demand in aerospace and to some extent industrial heavy machinery. I am going to the Paris Air Show next week and we expect to announce a couple of very big deals at the show. So, aerospace continues to represent significant demand and by association growth for Tata Technologies.
