Few folks are surprised to learn that their PC or cell phone was designed by a no-name Asian electronics contractor.
But what about something really complex? Could Detroit, say, outsource the design of a whole passenger car to low-cost engineers in Asia? Not yet. But visit the engineering operations of outfits such as Tata Consultancy Services, a showcase of India's fast-evolving design capabilities, and that day seems closer than you may think.
At TCS labs in India, engineers are working on virtually every aspect of car design for an array of foreign clients. In Bangalore, for example, engineers are tweaking the designs of a drive train for a passenger car to be built by a Western auto maker.
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