Acknowledging India's prowess in information technology, GE Aircraft Engines has said it intended to develop software for digital electronic control systems for helicopter engines in this country as part of its long-term strategy.

The company's regional vice-president, T700 sales, Asia-Pacific, Peter Gianonatti, said in Bangalore that India was known for its expertise in software and software development and the GE's vision was to have software for such systems to be outsourced to India.

Gianonatti also revealed that his company was currently engaged in talks with Bangalore-headquartered Hindustan Aeronautics Limited on co-development and co-production of helicopter engines.

India was a much larger market than countries such as Singapore, Thailand, Malaysia, Korea and Japan, he said.

"That's all the reason why we would like to be a significant contributor to this market and supplier of engines."