Alten Group, the Euro 1.07 billion European leader in technology consulting and engineering (TCE), has announced its plans to strengthen its presence in India, through a ramp up in terms of headcount increase and strategic acquisitions in India.

The group will position its Indian design centres as a major hub for servicing customers in India and the APAC region apart from helping its global customers achieve greater R&D efficiency by leveraging engineering talent available in India. As a company focused on ER&D, Alten brings with it high-end engineering expertise in Aerospace, Automotive, Rail, Energy, Telecom and Healthcare, in areas like design of aero structures, avionics systems, low emission vehicles, HEVs, rolling stock, energy management systems and medical equipments. With its acquisition of Calsoft Labs, the Alten Group has expanded its expertise in India in telecom product engineering and cloud computing. Moving forward Alten aims to make strategic acquisitions in India in areas such as wireless communications, VLSI design, and big data analytics.

Alten Group plans to increase its Indian headcount up from the current 800+ engineers to 2500 engineers by 2016. These engineers will be engaged to service customers in high growth markets in India and overseas. Alten India will help its global customers achieve greater R&D efficiency by leveraging local talent from India.

The recent NASSCOM Report on Engineering & R&D Services (ER&D) revealed that the engineering design and products development segments in India generated export revenues of USD 10 billion in FY2012; and is growing by about 14 per cent, driven by increasing use of electronics, fuel efficiency norms, convergence of local markets, and localised products and also driven by competitive markets and decline of skilled workforce in Western countries.

ER&D firms are increasingly developing capabilities that are enabling them to participate across all stages of ER&D, thereby delivering high-end services to customers. Traditional verticals like aerospace, automotive and semiconductors are increasing ER&D offshoring, as also emerging verticals like energy and utilities, the report added.

Speaking on the occasion, Gerald Attia, Deputy CEO, Alten Group said, "Alten Group has witnessed huge success in outsourced ER&D in European markets. With large global businesses targeting emerging markets, India has become the epicentre for Alten Group's growth in APAC region, and we are making significant investments in training our employees in specialised areas to be able to leverage the large engineering talent pool that is available here."

Ramandeep Singh, CEO, Calsoft Labs said, "We are very excited to be part of the prestigious Alten Group. With Alten Group making significant investments in India, Calsoft Labs can look forward to an exciting phase of accelerated learning and growth in new technologies such as wireless infrastructure, cloud computing and BI."