Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Sunday inaugurated the C-295 transport aircraft manufacturing plant, in Vadodara, Gujarat. The C-295 transport aircraft for the Indian Air Force will be manufactured by Tata-Airbus. Apart from making 40 aircraft, this facility at Vadodara would be manufacturing additional aircraft for Air Force requirements and exports.
On this occasion, PM Modi said, “The transport aircrafts that’ll be manufactured here will not only give power to our Army but also develop a new ecosystem of manufacturing aircraft. India will witness the passenger aircraft that will be made with the tag of Make In India. In the coming years, the Defence and Aerospace sectors will be two important pillars for making India ‘Atma Nirbhar’. By 2025, our defence manufacturing scale would cross $25 billion. Defence corridors being established in Uttar Pradesh and Tamil Nadu would power this scale.”
Chief Minister Bhupendra Patel, Governor Acharya Devvrat, Union Minister of Defence Rajnath Singh, Union Minister of Civil Aviation Jyotiraditya Scindia, Chairman of Tata Sons N Chandrasekaran and Chief Commercial Officer of Airbus Christian Scherer were present on this occasion.
PM Modi pointed out that it is for the first time that such a big investment is taking place in the Indian Defence sector. Transport aircrafts, manufactured here will not only give strength to the armed forces but it will help in developing a new ecosystem of aircraft manufacturing “Vadodara which is famous as a cultural and education centre, will develop a new identity as an aviation sector hub”, he said. The Prime Minister expressed happiness about the fact that more than 100 MEMEs are also associated with the project. He said that the promise of ‘Make in India, Make for the Globe’ will gain new push from this land as the project will be able to take orders for export to other countries in the future.
Highlighting the investment friendly policies of the government, the PM remarked that its benefits are clearly visible in FDI. “In the last eight years companies from more than 160 countries have invested in India. Such foreign investments are not limited to certain industries but spreads across 61 sectors of the economy and covers 31 states of India. More than $3 billion has been invested in the aerospace sector.”
Post 2014, investment in this sector grew 5 times of what was invested during the year 2000 to 2014. In the coming years, the defence and aerospace sectors are going to be the crucial pillars of the Atmanirbhar Bharat campaign. He said, “We aim to scale our defence manufacturing beyond $25 billion by 2025. Our defence exports will also exceed $5 billion. The reflection of Project C-295 will also be visible to us in the Def-expo of the coming years”
Apart from making 40 aircraft, this facility at Vadodara would be manufacturing additional aircraft for Air Force requirements and exports, as per Defence Secretary Aramane Giridhar. IAF officials said the first Indian Air Force squadron of C-295 transport aircraft would also be based in Vadodara.
