New Delhi (Sputnik) — The Aeronautical Society of India has predicted a massive investment in the country’s aerospace and defense sector in the next 10 years.
“Overall investment in Aerospace and Defense in the next 10 years is expected to be more than 400 billion US Dollars,” said Dr R K Tyagi, former Chairman of HAL and President elect of the Aeronautical Society of India.
The Indian government recently hinted that the country would like to spend more on defense in the wake of growing tensions in the region and the threat of Islamic State. If India increases its defense expenditure in upcoming budget, it would mark a reverse trend as allocation to defense has been decreased from 2.62 percent of annual national income in 2011 to 2.26% in 2016. In fact, the Indian government had made a request to all the defense manufacturers to raise production capacity.
Apart from the defense sector, India’s civilian aerospace sector would also witness a sharp rise in demand for aircraft. India is expected to add more than 1,600 aircraft in the next 10 years with an approximate investment of USD 200 billion.
“For technological superiority and strengthening the manufacturing sector in India, it would be necessary that India develop its own civil aircraft. Preliminary studies have already been completed and it is estimated that such an aircraft could be developed in 5 – 7 years at a cost of roughly about 1 billion US Dollars i.e. much less than 1% of acquisition cost which we will be incurring in the Aerospace & Defense sector in next 10 years,” said Dr. R.K. Tyagi. It is said that India will add up to one aircraft per week in next ten years.
