According to the latest report, ‘Karnataka - Aerospace Hub of the India’ of the CII (Confederation of Industry) released at the Global Investors Meet on Thursday, the future would see more private firms registering their presence, following the establishment of the country’s first private aerospace special economic zone (SEZ) cluster at Belgaum last year and the announcement to establish another SEZ spread over 250 acres at near the Bengaluru International Airport at Devanahalli in the City.
The State also has to its credit the highest offset investment share (66.6 percent) in the country. Karnataka has seen a chunk of the investments in the country being awarded between 2000 and 2008, of which a major portion was for R&D (Research and Development).
Captains of the industry who participated at a session devoted to aerospace sector said India needs to open up avenues for increased inflow of foreign direct investment (FDI) into the industry.
Ganesh Karnik, vice chairman of the NRI forum and member of the legislative council said the State is all set to become an MRO (Maintenance, Repair and Overhaul) hub of Asia in the coming years, with global giants such as Airbus and Boeing mulling establishing MRO facilities in the country.
More satellite launches
Managing director of Antrix Corporation Ltd of the ISRO, K R Sridhar Murthy said: “The space service services market is currently valued between seven to nine billion dollars. We could see future demand of launching eight satellites annually by 2015. We at ISRO will double the capacity of space launch vehicles.”
Ashok Nayak, chairman of Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL) said the aviation giant launched a project to design and manufacture a 15-tonne transport aircraft.
“The HAL is looking at more joint ventures (JV) for the future. The next 10 to 15 years could witness HAL selling its products to global players,” he added.
Air Cmde (Retd) Ravish Malhotra, chief mentor of Dynamatic Technologies said the future lay in increased FDI in public-private-partnerships (PPP). “The government should ensure that whoever wins the medium-multi-role-combat-aircraft (MMRCA) contract transfers latest technology,” he said.
The Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) is in talks with the Visvesvaraya Technological University (VTU), Belgaum to establish a university exclusively devoted to aerospace engineering, said Aroon Raman, chairman of CII (Karnataka State Council).
“We will be able to announce something concrete on this, in the next few months,” he told reporters during the GIM.
Investment by majors
The Karnataka Udyog Mitra, the government’s single window agency for industrial products has accorded project investment clearances to global aviation majors, viz European Aeronautics and Defence Systems or EADS (Rs 11,700 crore), Sobha Nadathur Aerospace Pvt Ltd (Rs 200 crore), Dynamatic Technologies (Rs 466 crore) to establish manufacturing and MRO units in the City during the last one year.
HAL has also proposed setting up of a Rs 2,095 crore unity in Devanahalli to manufacture aero-engines and provide MRO facilities. British aircraft engine maker, Rolls Royce Group Plc will invest Rs 18.4 crore to establish units in its first joint venture tie-up in the country with HAL to manufacture civil aero engine components.
DH News Service