Indian Watchmaker Bets Big on Customized Manufacturing Lines

Earlier this year, in February 2025, Safran Aircraft Engines signed a contract with Titan Engineering and Automation Limited (TEAL), an Indian firm that produces components for its LEAP engine’s low-pressure turbine. Production is expected to begin in 2026. 

While most Indians know Titan as a famous Indian watch brand, TEAL, which was born out of India’s watchmaking legacy, was once an internal division of Titan Company Ltd., a TATA Enterprise. Today, TEAL is a system integrator that has made headlines for delivering parts that are used in critical systems on aircraft like the A320neo, Boeing 787 and Sukhoi to the likes of Safran, Pratt & Whitney, Honeywell, HAL (Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd.) and Thales. But that is not all that TEAL does. 

TEAL operates across two distinct domains: automation solutions and high-precision manufacturing services, which include its aerospace and defense ventures. The company manufactures critical mechanical engine components with embedded or adjacent electronic controls, such as afterburner fuel bodies, engine starters, reverse thruster actuators and air management system parts for the latter.  

“If you are flying an A320neo, chances are it has several critical components built by us: reverse thrusters, flap actuators, engine starters,” said Sridhar Neelakantan, managing director of TEAL, in an interview with EE Times. “We also manufacture complex engine parts for aircraft like the Sukhoi, including after thrusters and fuel bodies. Even HAL’s Dhruv helicopters use engines that include components made here at TEAL.” 

But the less glamorous, yet equally critical, side of TEAL’s work lies in electronics manufacturing and semiconductor assembly, ranging from mobile phone lines to EV battery pack production for clients like TVS, ABB and TATA Electronics. The company builds intelligent systems that assemble, test and perfect the electronics that you and I use, long before these systems reach the factory floor.   

Neelakantan shared how the company quietly enables global electronics production through its automation solutions. 

“Manufacturing is only just coming to India at scale,” he said. “When that happens, certain aspects are best done through a lights-out factory. But to reach that point, you need a partner who can design and build the right systems from scratch.” 

Understanding TEAL’s business strategy 

TEAL works extensively in the automotive and electronics manufacturing services (EMS) sector. 

“Whether it is mobile phone manufacturing or the growing use of electronics in vehicles—motor controllers, battery management systems, on-board chargers—we are building turnkey assembly automation for these applications. In consumer electronics, we focus on the product assembly stage,” Neelakantan explained. 

With most equipment still being imported into India, TEAL sees a growing opportunity to build domestic capability—especially as production-linked incentive schemes gain traction. The company is also eyeing the evolving OSAT (Outsourced Semiconductor Assembly and Test) ecosystem in India for automating packaging, assembly and wafer handling, and is exploring adjacent opportunities in solar wafer and panel production, where the process chain is similar. 

At first glance, TEAL may appear to be going against the tide. Most of the equipment used in electronics manufacturing in India today, from assembly lines to wafer handlers, is still imported from China. It is faster, cheaper and often comes with the kind of scale Indian manufacturers are only beginning to build. 

But Neelakantan said that TEAL’s offerings sit outside the typical price-versus-performance comparison. “Typically, when a customer is launching a new product, their engineering teams—design, manufacturing, maintenance—all come together to define the requirements. We co-develop the line with them. Only after that does the discussion move to procurement,” he said. 

This approach matters when a product is still evolving, as is often the case in new sectors like EVs, battery modules or telecom hardware. By co-developing manufacturing lines with their customers, TEAL accounts for real-world production challenges and provides local support when issues arise. 

“Some customers have strong in-house manufacturing and maintenance teams and prefer to handle everything themselves. In such cases, we train them and hand over the system,” Neelakantan said. “However, when complex retrofitting or upgrades are needed, customers return to us. In some cases, we also take complete ownership of maintaining the equipment. It depends on the customer’s preference and operational needs.” 

Export markets and infrastructure 

While TEAL began with Indian projects in the 1990s, the company has since expanded heavily into Europe, with installations in France, Spain, Germany, Sweden, Romania, the Czech Republi, and Hungary. “In Europe, the cost of labor is high, so the degree of automation is higher,” Neelakantan said. “We have done projects there with ticket sizes between ₹700 million [$8.2 million] and ₹1 billion [$11.75 million].” 

TEAL is now building a team in North America, with plans to expand in Mexico and the US. It is also eyeing Southeast Asia. 

In India, the company operates three automation facilities and one aerospace manufacturing facility in Hosur, Tamil Nadu, along with another facility in Chennai for EMS—all currently being expanded. Core design and assembly are done in-house, while non-critical components are sourced through a domestic supplier network. 

“We control the critical tasks and outsource special processes—like chemical treatments—only if approved by the customer,” Neelakantan explained. “In aerospace component manufacturing, many customers do not allow extensive outsourcing. So, we do most of it in-house.” 

Innovation, skills and a push for self-reliance 

The company integrates a wide mix of technologies—robotics, PLCs, sensors, servo systems, pneumatics—and adds software intelligence through its own platforms. “We have already started on the journey. We have our own solution for Industry 4.0, which we call I4 Metrics,” Neelakantan said. “It complements our equipment and gives our customers greater transparency of data.” 

TEAL has also developed its own vision systems using deep learning. These come in handy in cases where visual inspection involves subjective judgment—something better handled by AI than rule-based logic. 

But engineering innovation is only part of the story. The shortage of practically trained engineers remains a major bottleneck. To address that, TEAL plans to run internal upskilling programs and collaborate with IIT Madras, state governments and skilling institutes to improve engineering education. The company employs over 700 engineers in mechanical design, control systems and robotics. 

“We have to transform how we teach engineering and make it more relevant,” Neelakantan said. 

Building in India, sourcing globally 

While TEAL builds complete turnkey automation lines, many of the components that go into those systems are still imported. “Automation, of course, has a lot of components—systems, sensors, electronics,” Neelakantan explained. “These come from various parts of the world. Robots, PLCs, servomotors, pneumatics, hydraulics—most are not made in India.” 

The rest of the solution—design, fabrication, integration and testing—is done locally. “There is a high degree of engineering content in what we do. We give a complete turnkey solution, build the whole line, test it here, and then take it to the customer,” he said. Around 25–30% of the material is imported, with the majority of the value built in India, according to Neelakantan. 

While imported machines still dominate the Indian market, Neelakantan believes that with the right policy support, India can become a serious player in automation and capital equipment manufacturing. 

“This is an inflection point for India as far as manufacturing is concerned,” he said. “As sectors like EVs, batteries, solar and semiconductors grow, we see a strong future, not just in India but globally.” 

Chinese machines still undercut Indian alternatives upfront, but over time, once you add logistics, downtime, retrofitting and lack of onsite support, the cost gap narrows. While TEAL may not compete in terms of price, the company claims to offer greater control, reliability and co-engineering value. With the Indian government tightening indigenization rules—especially in defense and consumer electronics—a local supply chain automation partner becomes an evident choice rather than an optional one