State attracts Rs 4,846 cr investment at Aero Park

The Karnataka government, which is promoting Bangalore as a potential hub for aerospace industry in the country, has seen investment proposals from as many as 54 companies for a combined investment of Rs 4,846 crore. Of these, 46 proposals are in the small and medium enterprises segment and the rest are major projects with investment of over Rs 50 crore cleared by the state high level clearance committee (SHLCC). Once set up, these projects are expected to generate employment for about 30,000 people.

"We have identified the aerospace sector as a focus area for attracting investment into the state. The state has an ideal ecosystem for the sector and we want to cash in on this not only to sustain Karnataka's position as the country's aviation hub, but also to encourage and support the MSMEs in the sector," M Maheshwar Rao, commissioner, department of commerce and industries, government of Karnataka told Business Standard.

The state has acquired 982 acres near the Bangalore international airport for the aerospace park, of which 250 acres have been set apart for the aerospace Special Economic Zone (SEZ). The government till now has allotted 218 acres to 25 companies at the SEZ. The major investors at the SEZ include Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (Rs 2,095 crore), Dynamatic Technologies (Rs 465.8 crore), Jupiter Aviation Logistics (Rs 630 crore), BEML Limited (Rs 316 crore), Mahindra Aerospace Pvt Ltd (Rs 284 crore), European Aeronautics Defence and Space Company (Rs 278.2 crore), Sobha Aviation and Engineering Services, Tyco Electronics Corporation India, AMADA (India) Pvt Ltd and Wipro Ltd (Rs 52.05 crore) among others.

These companies are setting up manufacturing plants for producing aircraft components, assemblies, MRO activities related to aerospace applications, aerospace actuators and parts, engine and engine components, welded structural assemblies, aviation training academy among others. Further, Rao said the government expects to attract more companies to the aerospace SEZ during the forthcoming global investors' meet (GIM) in June 2012. At the recently concluded India Aviation 2012 held in Hyderabad, the government had fruitful discussions with several global and Indian players in the aviation sector, he said.

He also said the state government and Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) have formed a joint task force on aerospace with the overall intent of promoting and developing the state's aerospace industry.

The government also proposes to establish a Technology Innovation Centre on aerospace at the Bangalore Aerospace Park to provide R&D support, particularly to SMEs. The government plans to approach organisations like ISRO, USIBC, NAL, EADS and Honeywell among others to become stake holders in the Technology Innovation centre. As recommended by the Joint Task Force, the government hopes to set up an aerospace university in the near future to cater to the human resources for the aviation sector, he added.

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