Airbus targets $2 billion sourcing from India in five years

Airbus Group has a target of over $2 billion cumulative sourcing volume from India over next five years in both civil and defence businesses, a top company official said on Monday.

Already making a significant contribution to make in India with sourcing volume of $400 million, the global aerospace and defence player said it is looking at increased presence and fast expansion of activities encompassing sourcing, engineering, innovation, maintenance, services and training.

Talking to reporters on the sidelines of second Defence & Aerosupply India conference which began here on Monday, Venkat Katkuri, head, Airbus Defence and Space, India, said Airbus was building a solid local identity and would like to look at every possibility to collaborate in both defence and space.

On replacement for the Indian Air Force's Avros, he said Airbus-Tata Advanced Systems Limited (TASL) had not yet been awarded the contract. "Our proposal is going through the process of evaluation by the end customer. Nothing has been finalised," he said.

"We are offering the C295, wherein with Tata, we will support the Indian private sector in making a significant leap to creating a modern and efficient aircraft assembly line, fed from an ecosystem of domestic suppliers and in initiating the production of a market-leading military transport aircraft," he added.

Airbus and TASL have submitted a joint bid to replace the IAF's fleet of 56 Avroswith the Airbus C295.

Katkuri believes this will act as a catalyst to truly develop the domestic industrial ecosystem.

The European multinational has its partnerships in India on commercial aircrafts, helicopters and satellites

It has teamed up with Mahindra to produce helicopters locally in both military and civil segments.

Katkuri pointed out that there are Indian components on every Airbus commercial aircraft. In the space sector, it jointly designed and developed communication satellites for European operators together Antrix Corporation, a Indian government company under department of space.

"We already contributed to creation of 5,000 jobs across our supplier network in India and this figure is poised to go up as we remain committed to increase cumulative domestic sourcing volume by manifolds," he earlier said in his address at the conclave.

"We are a manufacturer and an integrator that sustains a very deep supply chain and hence buying from numerous Indian actors is one of our ways of make in India now," he said.

Stating that India is well poised to be fastest growing manufacturing and services hub in 5 to 10 years mainly supported by domestic demand, Katkuri stressed the need for sector friendly policies, efficient implementation and quick decision making to realise India's dream of self reliance in defence.

"A strong local aerospace and defence industrial base is in our interest it will give us more opportunities to collaborate with local companies and address not only India requirements but also use India as a manufacturing base for export markets," he added.