Bangalore: Speacilist software provider KPIT Cummins Infosystems Ltd today said that it had taken over a substantial part of the mechanical design services business of TVS Group company and provider of engineering design services, Harita TVS Technologies, which in India goes under the name of TVS-E Technologies Ltd, for an undisclosed sum.

With the acquisition of the high-end mechanical design engineering capability from Harita, KPIT Cummins has strengthened its own portfolio of automotive embedded and mechanical engineering services and will now begin providing integrated mechanical product design, development and validation services to existing and new global clients in the automotive and industrials verticals.

Highlights of the Acquisition

• Accretional revenues of nearly Rs 15 Crores
• KPIT Cummins to acquire around 100 specialised employees from Harita TVS with coremechanical design competencies in product design and validation for  automotive and industrial products and systems
• Over 20 Harita TVS customers across North America, Europe and India will transition to KPIT Cummins; some customers will continue to be supported by Harita
• KPIT Cummins strengthens its current product engineering services portfolio by adding specialised mechanical design solutions in plastics, sheet-metals, castings and forgings for its automotive and industrials clients.

''Our acquisition strategy has always been aligned with our vision to become leaders in the focused verticals,"  said KPIT Cummins chairman and group CEO Ravi Pandit. "By acquiring substantial part of Harita TVS, we aim to become the leading global product engineering partner to our existing and potential clients in the
automotive and industrials verticals."

Harita has opted for growth by partnering with a larger firm to enable the business to scale up. Harita with its deep auto domain expertise, process centricity and a committed team accompanied with KPIT's global footprint, account management strength and auto focus will enable the integrated entities to emerge as a dominant player in the automotive sector.

Although the mechanical design services business, owned by Harita TVS Technologies will be transferred to KPIT Cummins along with employees, strategic key customers and assets in India, North America and Europe, the legal entities at North America and Europe will remain with Harita TVS during the transition period.

Acording to Gopal Srinivasan, chairman of Harita TVS, ''Mechanical design services transfer is an excellent strategic decision to scale up the business. Harita's expertise has already created a strong and satisfied customer base. We are sure that KPIT will enhance the existing opportunities for the customers in terms of new services and offerings to continue the outstanding work performed by our team. There is a lot in store for the global automotive customers.''

What the deal means to KPIT Cummins
KPIT Cummins can sharpen its focus on the vision of becoming the No 1 global product engineering partner to clients in the automotive and industrials verticals helping them bring complex technology products and systems faster to their global markets and an opportunity to work with over 20 Harita TVS customers  across North America, Europe and India, with 80 per cent of the acquired customers prepared to engage with KPIT Cummins for the first time.

KPIT would also expand its mechanical engineering portfolio to provide mechanical design engineering along with embedded engineering services for automotive and industrial verticals  and also start offering product design development and optimisation, including validation and verification of products and systems for automotive interior and exterior; specifically in plastics, sheet-metals, forgings and castings using high-end 3D modeling and analysis tools.

KPIT said the the deal also accords it the potential to expand the mechanical design engineering practice to 1000+ in the next three years with specialised mechanical design professionals from Harita to complement KPIT Cummins' existing 100+ employees in the practice.

''A competent team of qualified professionals in Harita TVS has built the domain capability over the years,"  Kishor Patil , CEO and managing director, KPIT Cummins, said, "With the addition of high end mechanical design engineering services, we look forward to better address the needs of our global customers specifically in the automotive product designs contributing to a multitude of innovations in weight reduction, product life, ergonomics and also fuel efficiency.Together we see a true synergy between the two companies for our employees and customers.''