Titan’s Engineering Arm Sees Opportunity as China Alternatives Rise

Titan Engineering & Automation Ltd (TEAL) is sharpening its growth strategy as global trade disruptions, tariff shocks and supply-chain realignments force manufacturers to rethink where critical equipment and high-precision components should be made.

US tariffs, Europe’s shift away from China and India’s push into semiconductors, solar and batteries are opening opportunities for companies that can build the equipment these industries need.

For TEAL, a Titan Company subsidiary with deep capabilities in automation and precision manufacturing, this convergence of global pressure points and domestic policy momentum is shaping its next phase of expansion.

“This is probably the best time for manufacturing in this country," said Sridhar N.P., managing director and chief executive of TEAL. “Unfortunately, it has come many years later than it should have, but better late than never. We are seeing industries where the entire value chain is coming in together. I do not know if this has ever happened elsewhere, where the whole ecosystem is being set up in two years.

" Even as India steps up investment in production capabilities across semiconductors, solar, batteries and electronics manufacturing, most of the equipment used in these sectors continues to be imported from China. TEAL sees an opportunity to emerge as a domestic alternative in selected equipment categories where its automation and precision engineering capabilities apply.

But changes are not restricted to the domestic market. Trump-era tariffs and broader geopolitical uncertainty have pushed companies globally to reassess supply chains and manufacturing footprints. While this expands opportunities for firms such as TEAL, it also raises questions around how prolonged trade tensions could shape future investment and market access

Global disruption as opportunity

TEAL operates across two businesses. One designs and builds automation equipment for high-volume manufacturing. The other manufactures high precision components, primarily for global aerospace customers.

While the manufacturing services business, which is heavily focused on aerospace, has significant exposure to the US, the automation business has a very limited presence in that market. Although the company is keen to eventually scale its automation business in North America, tariff uncertainty has led it to pause expansion plans for now.

TEAL incorporated a US subsidiary several years ago, but Sridhar acknowledged that the company has not done much on that front. “North America is definitely an area of focus, but we are waiting and watching how we would want to do that (expand in the US market)," he said. “On the automation front, we hardly export anything to the US, so that hasn’t been impacted, but it has impacted our North American strategy.

" Sridhar clarified that aerospace manufacturing exports have not been affected by tariffs, largely because of long-term contracts and deep customer relationships. About 95% of TEAL’s manufacturing services output is export oriented, with the US as a key market Europe, meanwhile, presents a different dynamic. While industrial demand there has softened in the near term, structural factors are pushing European manufacturers to diversify supply chains away from China and towards alternative partners. Defence and aerospace spending in Europe is expected to rise sharply, but building capacity locally remains expensive.

According to Nithin Chandra, senior partner at consulting firm Kearney, this creates a natural pull towards India. “Europe will see a sharp increase in defence and aerospace spending, but creating capacity there is costly," he said. “That naturally pushes sourcing towards Asia, and India is viewed far more favourably than China as a long-term partner."

Sridhar added that even as the US and Europe push to bring manufacturing closer to home, high labour costs in these regions make automation unavoidable rather than optional. This, he said, opens up a different operating model for automation suppliers, where proximity matters but full localisation is not essential. “The same model that worked really well for the software industry can work for automation as well," he said, referring to an offshore–onsite approach. In this model, core design, engineering and equipment manufacturing can be done in India, with machines shipped overseas and final commissioning and tuning carried out on site. “If you do this model well, there is a very unique way in which we can render solutions," he said.

The India factor

Even so, it is the Indian opportunity that excites TEAL the most. The government has been actively building a policy framework to reduce import dependence and attract technology-led manufacturing across semiconductors, electronics and new-energy sectors.

The flagship India Semiconductor Mission, backed by roughly ₹76,000 crore in incentives, supports end-to-end semiconductor manufacturing, from design and fabrication to packaging and testing, with fiscal support of up to 50% of project cost for approved fabs and related infrastructure. Similar policy support has been extended to solar manufacturing and electronics production.

Industry, too, has responded. Intel and the Tata Group have signed a memorandum of understanding to localise semiconductor manufacturing and advanced packaging in India, with Tata’s semiconductor projects, including a fabrication plant and an OSAT facility, collectively valued at an estimated $14 billion.

In parallel, electronics manufacturing services players are expanding local assembly and testing capacity, while solar and battery manufacturers are investing upstream into cells, wafers and ingots, signalling a shift towards full stack technology manufacturing in India.

India has seen manufacturing booms before, most notably in the automotive sector. But Sridhar argues the current cycle is fundamentally different in both speed and structure.

For instance, the automotive industry evolved gradually. India began by assembling vehicles using imported components. As volumes grew and incomes rose, suppliers followed, and over decades India built a balanced ecosystem where engines, tyres and systems are manufactured locally.

In semiconductors and solar, that progression is being compressed dramatically. “In semiconductors, everything is coming together," Sridhar said. “From silicon ingots to wafers, to fabs, to packaging and final ICs (integrated circuits). Massive investments are being made across the entire value chain at the same time." A similar transformation is visible in solar manufacturing, among other sectors.

“What is not coming along is equipment," Sridhar said. “Whether it is semiconductor or whether it is solar, all the equipment today is coming in from China."

Key Takeaways

• Global trade disruptions and tariff uncertainty are accelerating supply chain realignments, creating fresh openings for Indian automation and precision-engineering firms like TEAL.
• TEAL is positioning itself as a domestic alternative for imported manufacturing equipment in semiconductors, solar and batteries,
• While aerospace exports remain resilient due to long-term contracts, tariff uncertainty has slowed TEAL’s automation expansion plans in North America.
• Domestic demand is now driving TEAL’s automation business, with India accounting for about 70% of revenue

TEAL is not attempting to become a maker of core semiconductor process tools or proprietary chemistry. That, Sridhar said, would be unrealistic. Instead, the company is targeting downstream and adjacent equipment where automation and precision engineering matter most.

This includes assembly automation, material handling, packaging equipment and discrete manufacturing systems for semiconductors, solar and electronics manufacturing services. The same logic extends to batteries, where India is building manufacturing capacity under production-linked incentives, but equipment and technology remain largely imported.

According to Kearney’s Chandra, this is a pragmatic strategy. “Becoming a full fledged equipment OEM in semiconductors is extremely hard," he said. “Having said that, being a trusted component or subsystem supplier is a much more logical and scalable path, especially if done through partnerships."

Two businesses, two growth paths

TEAL’s strategy is anchored in its twin businesses, which face very different demand dynamics.

The manufacturing services business is centred on high-precision components, primarily for aerospace. Much of the output from this segment is export oriented, supplying critical parts used in commercial aircraft systems such as engine starters, air-management systems and thrust-reversal mechanisms.

This business has proven resilient even amid global disruption. “My aerospace (and defence) customers have not stopped taking from us," Sridhar said. “It is a very sticky business. In aerospace, you do not take short-term decisions because the ramifications on the supply chain are very high." Long qualification cycles and switching costs mean aerospace supply chains tend to look beyond short-term tariff changes

The automation business tells a different story. While it was evenly split between domestic and export markets last year, the balance has shifted decisively towards India. This year, about 70% of automation revenue is expected to be domestic, with exports accounting for the rest.

“While international opportunity is also growing, we see a far greater opportunity in India," said Sridhar

Competitive landscape and where TEAL fits

TEAL operates in an industrial automation market dominated by multinational players. Companies such as Siemens India, ABB India, Schneider Electric India, Rockwell Automation India and Honeywell Automation India supply standardised platforms across industries. Globally, Siemens AG reported about €78.9 billion (approximately ₹7 trillion) in revenue in FY 2025, underscoring the scale of these players.

In India, subsidiaries of these firms have built large businesses on enterprise relationships and broad portfolios. Honeywell Automation India, for instance, reported total revenue of ₹4,189.6 crore in FY25

Alongside them is a smaller group of Indian specialists, including robotics firms such as Addverb Technologies and GreyOrange, and aerospace component suppliers such as Aequs, Dynamatic Technologies and Sigma Advanced Systems.

TEAL sits between these categories. With FY25 revenue of about ₹860 crore, it is far smaller than multinational leaders but among the more scaled Indian engineering specialists. Automation contributes a little over 60% of revenue, with manufacturing services accounting for the rest.

Sridhar said both manufacturing services and automation equipment businesses will continue to see investment, particularly in factories and new technologies. The company is also looking to set up facilities in East Asia to better serve electronics equipment customers in the region, while investing in capabilities such as lasers, vision systems, robotics, high-speed automation and new-energy applications, especially batteries.

Chandra believes TEAL is well-positioned to benefit from emerging domestic and global opportunities. “This is a long-cycle opportunity," he said. “If semiconductors, solar, batteries and aerospace scale the way they are expected to, suppliers with deep engineering capability will compound over a decade or more.