Defence Minister Rajnath Singh said that the country's Aeronautics sector is set to grow from Rs 30,000 crore today to Rs 60,000 crore by 2024.
He added that the Indian aerospace industry, both military and civil, stands uniquely poised on the threshold of catapulting itself into the global arena.
"India has a great potential to emerge as a global and regional MRO (maintenance, repairs and overhaul) hub given the cost competitiveness of its manpower resources, the availability of abundant, specialist capabilities and geographical advantages," Singh said at the valedictory function of the 13th edition of Aero India in Bengaluru. He added that the aerospace sector has an important role to play if we have to reach our targets of domestic defence production of $25 billion and exports of $5 billion by 2025.
Singh said that in the last five years, defence exports grew from Rs 2,000 crore to Rs 9,000 crore and majority of these exports are being spearheaded by the private sector.
While maintaining that a robust domestic manufacturing base relates directly to the potential for defence exports, Singh said,"We plan to move from a $11 billion defence base to $25 billion by 2025. Of this, we further intend to create an export component of $5 billion."
The three-day Aero India event witnessed at least 128 MoUs, 19 Transfer of Technology, and 32 major announcements, along with 18 product launches. Besides, of the 45 MSMEs participating in the event, 21 have already bagged orders worth Rs 203 crore.
"We realise, appreciate and understand that in a highly specialised and technology-driven environment, a collaborative, cooperative and collective approach to defence production and exports is the way forward," Singh said.
President Ram Nath Kovind, who was the chief guest of closing ceremony of Aero India, said the event has exhibited that the global confidence in India’s capabilities is growing steadily.
"We have taken a number of policy initiatives aimed at placing India among the top nations in the defence sector with twin objectives of self-reliance and export promotion," President Kovind said while adding that our vision is to create a robust economy and infrastructure alongside developing competitive supply chains and integrate them globally.
As India aims to bring down defence imports by at least $2 billion by 2022, between 2016 and 2019, as many as 138 proposals worth over $37 billion for domestic manufacturing have been approved.
