Top guns in aviation look for more landings on Indian runway

Bengaluru: Global giants, Airbus, Rolls Royce, Safran and Collins Aerospace, are looking to scale up their operations in India, key officials of the four global companies said on Thursday.

Speaking at a panel discussion at the Global Investors’ Meet, Michel Narchi, head of international operations, Airbus, observed that the aerospace and defence sectors had gained a high level of maturity in India in the past few years.

Collins Aerospace, on the other hand, is already dealing with about $500 million worth of exports from India annually. Savyasachi Srinivas, vice-president, engineering, at Collins Aerospace, said his organisation anticipates this will significantly increase over the next few years.

Rolls Royce is also committed to double its spending in the country over the next five years by increasing the tech capability and supplying more complex parts in the core of the engines, according to Huw Morgan, senior vice-president, Aerospace Procurement, Rolls Royce.

Global supply chain

Today, India is contributing over a billion euros to the overall supply chain of Airbus and his organisation anticipates this figure to increase strongly, Narchi said.

India orders a significant number of aircraft, which is also going to result in an uptick in the global supply chain, added Srinivasan Dwarakanath, director general, Aerospace India Association, and former CEO and MD of Airbus India.

The panelists, however, noted that despite fueling growth in the global aviation market, the Indian aerospace contribution to the global supply chain remains at 1 per cent.

Dwarakanath said, “What we are pushing for, is that today if you look at product design and manufacturing, our exports are less than $2 billion. In 10 years’ time, we expect that to go to $20 billion.”

Beyond incentives

Speaking to DH on the sidelines of the session, Dwarakanath said, “At the moment, the government is looking at what the next steps are. They are asking for industry expectations. So currently, we are compiling that. It is not just about the incentives; it is about how do we do certifications? How do you promote the companies globally? What can be done at the government to government level?”

On what more is expected from the Karnataka government, Jean-Noel Mahieu, EVP Operations, Safran, Electronics and Defence, said to DH, “It is very important that we have support both on civil and military applications. Currently, there are a lot of military incentives but less on civil applications. The goal is to provide support in terms of investments, but also in training and education support, for example, through training centres to help us set the right skills inside the facility.”