New Delhi. Minister of State (MoS) for Defence Shripad Naik has said Indian Aerospace and Defence industry today is on the threshold of transformation, under the several initiatives of Government of India to promote ‘Make in India’ and ‘Atmanirbhar Bharat Abhiyaan’.

He was delivering the Inaugural address at the fifth edition of the conference on Aerospace and Defence Manufacturing Technologies in New Delhi on July 15. Theme of the conference was ‘Empowering India with ‘Aatma Nirbhar Bharat Mission’.

Naik exhorted that the Indian A&D industry has to rise to the occasion to shoulder greater responsibility in making the nation self-reliant in Defence Production and achieve US$26 billion domestic production by 2025, which is the stated objective of the Defence Production Policy.

Speaking about the challenge posed by COVID-19, MoS Defence said, “COVID has caused, across the globe, severe economic and social challenges… In our national efforts over the last four months, we have been successful to first create high awareness among our large population, build adequate capacity for testing and providing health care, and manage the rate of spread of virus.”

“Having taken steps to save lives of our people, we are now into the next phase of our national effort – That is to Save Livelihoods,” he added hoping that the industry and economy will bounce back to their growth trajectories, as before COVID.

In recent years, the defence sector has grown extensively. It has increased at a CAGR of 9.7 per cent from 2008 to 2016, reaching current levels of US$42.83 billion in the year 2017-18. The Aerospace and Defence industry in India is estimated to reach around US$70 billion by 2030.

Naik said, “India’s aerospace and defence market has tremendous growth potential and strong fundamentals to be globally competitive and further develop into a leading hub and net exporter for design, manufacturing, engineering, technology development and services.”

The Indian civil aviation market is one of the fastest growing markets in the world with tourist footfall increasing at 20 per cent every year and the growth is expected to continue with the plan of investments of about US$1.83 billion in the development of airport infrastructure by 2026.

Speaking about global Aircraft Maintenance, Repair, Overhaul (MRO ) the MoS said, “Indian market is yet to catch up. The Indian MRO market is estimated at US$800 million and is growing at about eight per cent annually against a four per cent world average.”

The Indian civil aviation MRO market, at present, stands at around US$900 million and is anticipated to grow to US$4.33 billion by 2025 increasing at a CAGR of about 14-15 per cent.

Speaking about efforts made by Ministry of Defence over the years, Naik said, “The Department of Defence Production has established wide ranging production facilities for various defence equipment through the Ordnance Factories, Defence Public Sector Undertakings (DPSUs) and encouraging private defence industry.”

The webinar was jointly organised by Tamil Nadu Technology Development & Promotion Centre (TNTDPC), Society of Indian Defence Manufacturers (SIDM), and the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII).

Secretary Department of Defence R&D & Chairman Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) Dr G Satheesh Reddy, Principal Secretary/Chairperson & Managing Director of Tamil Nadu Industrial Development Corporation (TIDCO), Government of Tamil Nadu, Kakarla Usha and President of Society of Indian Defence Manufacturers (SIDM) Jayant Patil were also present on the occasion.