Gupte, president, Boeing India, on the American aircraft maker's GCC operations in India, and how it has been tapping into talent here to build aircraft for the world
Salil Gupte, president, Boeing India
Image: Amit Verma
For Boeing, building a GCC in India was never really the plan. That happened with time. The American aircraft maker, which makes aircraft such as the Dreamliner and the 737 Max, currently sells commercial aircraft to airlines such as Air India and Akasa, among others, in the country, in addition to some formidable defence aircraft and helicopters to the Indian government.
The Virginia-headquartered aerospace behemoth had come to Indian shores in search of the vast talent in the country, especially as the defence cooperation between India and the US has seen an improvement over the past few decades. Last year, the company inaugurated a global engineering and technology campus in Bengaluru, a state-of-the-art centre built with an investment of ₹1,600 crore and spread across 43 acres, inaugurated by Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
“This strengthens the ‘Make in India-Make for the World’ resolution,” Modi said while inaugurating the facility. “This campus reinforces the world’s trust in India’s talent.” In an interview with Forbes India, Salil Gupte, the president of Boeing India, talks about the American aircraft maker’s India GCC operations and how it has been tapping into the talent here to build aircraft for the world. Edited excerpts:
Q. Last year, you set up the Boeing India Engineering & Technology Centre. What prompted you to set up a GCC in India?
Our plan was to make use of the incredible Indian talent here to support our global business years ago. Over the years, what has happened is the development of an incredible two-way street where that Indian talent and Indian capability, which is part of Boeing India, has earned its scale, size, and work statement to the extent that now it has certainly grown significantly from the time that we started it. It was never an intent for India to be larger than any other country. It is that the Indian capability and the Indian talent had earned that position.
(This story appears in the 21 February, 2025 issue of Forbes India. To visit our Archives, click here.)