Page 211 - Technology Roadmap Transportation

TECHNOLOGY ROADMAP: TRANSPORTATION

is very crucial for the air transport sector and An effective management of these offsets
therefore, the technologies have to focus on investment by the aerospace companies can
creating value for the airline operators and provide a significant boost to the aerospace
overall reduction in cost of operations. manufacturing capabilities in India. In view of
emerging opportunities in the sector, a lot of
Aerospace R&D and manufacturing in India was reputed industrial houses have entered the fray
for long an exclusive domain of public sector in joint ventures and technical collaboration
units namely HAL, NAL, and DRDO etc. who with established global and local players and are
have acquired capabilities across the value chain targeting larger set of capabilities in the sector.
of aerospace manufacturing mainly focused
on defence requirements and supported the The success of Indian aerospace manufacturing
creation of SMEs as vendors in a limited way. will depend on being competitive in terms of
Aerospace manufacturing is essentially a global delivering the required standards of quality,
industry and its supply chain is characterized adherence to timelines, at the lowest cost,
by high end technologies with very long which will require creation of an efficient
development cycles, huge development costs; aerospace ecosystem in the country based
long gestation period between the initial on public private partnership. The approach
investment and revenue generation; economies towards aerospace manufacturing must be very
of scale and scope; and very stringent practical with decisions on i) “make or buy”
certification requirements. The supply chain for critical technologies to be based on the
therefore has an inherent risk and entry barriers economics of time and money and ii) a focus
which is also reflected in the concentrated on development of capacities in the sector and
structure of the aerospace industry with few big moving upwards in the value chain. We should,
global players. However, owing to significant cost therefore, target the capabilities in aircraft
pressures in the global aviation industry, there is design and system integration with indigenous
a structural shift in the global aerospace supply as well as imported technologies/subsystems in
chain and the OEMs have resorted to risk the most economic and time bound manner to
sharing arrangements with suppliers to develop address the challenges in the sector. India’s huge
new products, exploring low cost manufacturing procurement requirements in both civil and
options for airframe and systems and thereby defence sectors along with sustained long term
opening new opportunities for countries like demand scenarios have created an opportunity
India to augment its presence in the global to quickly move to the next level by capitalizing
aerospace supply chain. on the advantage of available talent pool of
technical resources. This would require a serious
The aerospace and defence sector was opened thrust on R&D with a framework to support
for private participation including FDI upto innovation around the existing strength and
26% in 2001 which was increased upto 49% in ability to deliver global standards of quality at a
2015 and the same has now been permitted much lower cost.
upto 100% in 2016[5] wherever it is likely
to result in access to modern technology.
The “Make in India” programme launched by
the Government also envisages supporting
and promoting manufacturing in the country
and aerospace and defence is one of the key
pillars of this programme. India,being one
of the largest markets in the civil as well as
defence equipments is an attractive investment
destination for global OEMs. Moreover, the
Government policy on offsets which requires
the vendors to source local input of 30% of
the total value in case of defence purchase
can provide the much required boost to
the high technology manufacturing and
technology development in the aerospace.

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