Airbus Appoints New Vice President For India Operations

Airbus India has appointed Ashish Saraf as Vice-President for Industry Development, Strategic Partnerships and Offsets.

Saraf will drive the Group’s existing ‘Make in India’ initiatives and conceive new ones for all the businesses of Airbus Group India with the aim to increase their industrial footprint here. The move comes close on the heels of Airbus Group uniting its Divisions in India under a single company, the company said in a statement Monday.

“Having Ashish as a part of our India management team with the mandate to expand our local industrial partnerships is a shot in the arm for our ‘Make in India’ plans,” said Pierre de Bausset, President, Airbus Group India. 

Prior to joining Airbus Group, Saraf was the India head of the Tata Sikorsky joint venture since 2010 and led Sikorsky’s industrialisation and strategic partnerships in India. An industry veteran with an extensive experience in offsets, industrial relations, greenfield start-up development and strategic partnerships, Saraf started his career with Dassault Systems and Deloitte Consulting. He is an alumnus of the Symbiosis Institute of Business Management (SIBM), Pune and the National Institute of Technology (NIT), Nagpur.

Airbus Group has submitted a bid with Tata to jointly manufacture the C295 aircraft in India as a replacement for the Indian Air Force’s ageing Avro aircraft and has tied-up with Mahindra Defence to jointly produce helicopters in India.