Miles to go before Indian civil aviation manufacturing takes off

In late February, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said that days are not far when a ‘made-in-India’ passenger aircraft would enter the market. This was part of his larger strategy to boost ‘Aatmanirbhar Bharat’. Last month, Civil aviation minister, Jyotiraditya Scindia said that civilian aircraft manufacturing is taking ‘firm roots’ in India, and sounded confident about the transfers of technology and investments in space.

However, the ground reality is that India’s share in the global commercial aerospace supply chain is a minuscule 1-1.5 per cent, and any indigenous commercial aircraft is at least 2-3 decades away. This is markedly different from the massive strides undertaken in military aircraft manufacturing.