Q&A: R K Tyagi, CMD, Pawan Hans Helicopters

State-run Pawan Hans Helicopters recently launched the country’s first seaplane service. In an interview with Sanjay Jog, the company’s chairman and managing director, R K Tyagi, talks on future plans. Edited exceprts:

What is your growth strategy?
We have been first in the helicopter industry to luanch many new services -- hot line washing of insulators through copters, seaplane operations, to Kedarnath, heliports, usage in the Commonwealth Games and so on. The idea is to provide superior services at competitive prices to expand the customer base. We’ve been acquiring helicopters to cater to increased demand.

We’re exploring intra-city airport connectivity and medivac operations through copters. We’ve signed an agreement with the government of Gujarat to connect important tourist/pilgrimage places. Our plans are to diversify to other states — Himachal, Southern India, Goa.

We are setting up MRO (maintenance, repair, overhaul) facilities at Mumbai for the Dauphin series of helicopters. We are also in discussion with copter manufacturers to help us set up MRO facilities for other types of craft.

Is the government considering Pawan Hans for disinvestment or a public offer?
Our authorised capital is Rs 120 crore and the paid-up capital is Rs 113.8 crore, of which Rs 89.3 crore is held in the name of the President of India and Rs 24.50 crore in that of Oil & Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC). The authorised capital is being increased to Rs 250 crore and the paid-up share capital to Rs 245.6 crore, with the government putting in another Rs 36 crore and ONGC another Rs 95.85 crore. There is no consideration for disinvestment or IPO of Pawan Hans.

What’s your fleet expansion target?
We’ve had excellent performance and it’s a growing market. So, we’re increasing fleet size to meet new requirements. We’re also venturing into operation & maintenance (O&M) of helicopters — we’re already doing O&M for 11 Dhruv helicopters of Border Security Force and ONGC. We aim to capture thjis market. With the existing fleet, O&M contracts and other leased helicopters, Pawan Hans is poised to have 500 helicopters.

What about competition?
We are positioning our services as superior, affordable and convenient. This is the reason we have slashed the prices at Vaishno Devi and Kedarnath, so that more can avail the services. For our corporate clients, we have to position our services as high on quality, safety and reliability. We welcome healthy competition.