India’s Time to Fly
Apache and Chinook helicopters is in active consideration at the Company headquarters. Boeing has already sold India ten C-17 Globemaster, eight P-8I maritime reconnaissance planes and many other defence systems and weapon platforms. Boeing facility in India will be in collaboration with a local private player in the defence sector. According to Jim McNerney, “This is our strategy. The Indian market is too important for anybody to ignore. Indian capability is very high. Manufacturing in India is the commitment we have expressed to Indian government”.
Not only in defence platforms, Boeing is eyeing India’s civil aviation sector as well, which is likely to expand at a phenomenal pace in the country in the coming years. According to estimates, Indian aviation sector will need around 1800 new passenger aircraft in the coming years and to become a competitive player in the civil aviation market. Also, companies will have to take advantage of the skilled manpower and raw materials of the country. According to Jim McNerney, Boeing is manufacturing low cost and highly fuel efficient passenger aircraft that will definitely attract the Indian airlines.
Boeing expects billions of dollars in offsets to India and “We will be happy to do it,” said the Chairman. “India today has become an investment destination. The civil nuclear deal unlocked a lot and the ground reality is changing fast in India”. He also had high praise for Prime Minister Narendra Modi mentioning his business meetings in USA that attracted the who’s who of the US corporate world. According to Jim, there was not a single US CEO who was not there. The discussions in the meetings were real and everybody talked assuringly. Commenting on India, in his last statement, Jim said, “Things are changing fast and we are very optimistic”.