Ashish SARAF

In his role as Vice President and Country Director for India at Thales, Ashish Saraf leads all of Thales’s business activities in India, as well as Thales’s partnerships, including joint ventures and engineering competence centres. He is responsible for the strategic growth of Thales in the country across all of its markets, further strengthening local teams, collaborations and innovation.

Prior to joining Thales, Ashish headed the Tata–Sikorsky joint venture in Hyderabad, and also worked with Deloitte Consulting and Dassault Systemes, mainly in the USA and Europe, before being appointed President and Head of Region for Airbus Helicopters - India and South Asia. In this role, he led Airbus Helicopters’ Sales, Services, Training, Innovation, Industrial Partnerships and Government Relations functions across the Civil, Parapublic and Military markets in the region. At Airbus, Ashish was also the Vice-President and Make in India Officer responsible for Industrial Partnerships and offsets across all of Airbus’s businesses. 

Ashish also served as a Board of Director and Member of the Governing Council for Aviation and Aerospace Sector Skill Council (AASSC), a Governmental body dedicated to developing nationwide skills in the aerospace domain in India. 
Ashish holds various degrees in Management and Engineering from the University of London, Cornell University, the Symbiosis Institute and NIT India.