Modi’s Make in India flies high on wings of Airbus

Plane maker says it is ready to manufacture in India, up business to $2bn

PARIS: Airbus on Saturday said it was ready to manufacture helicopters, satellites and military transport planes in India and pledged to raise its outsourcing to the country up to $2 billion from the current $400 million by 2020.

Giving Prime Minister Narendra Modi a tour of its assembly line facility at its Toulouse headquarters, Airbus Group CEO Tom Enders said, “We support Prime Minister Modi’s ‘Make in India’ call and are ready to manufacture in India, for India and the world.”

This follows announcements by Modi to buy 36 ready- tofly Rafale fighter jets and by French President Francois Hollande to invest 2 billion euros in India.

“We... convey to him [Modi] our desire to forge a stronger industrial bond with India. India already takes a centre-stage role in our international activities and we want to increase its contribution to our products,” said Enders.

Airbus has 10 i ndustry partners in India — including Mahindra, Tata, Infosys, Wipro and L& T — and operates two engineering centres, focused on civil aviation and defence, and a research and technology centre. It plans to expand these centres so they can take on more responsibilities for future programmes, said a senior representative of the group.

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