Karnataka will lay ground to build commercial planes: Official

BENGALURU: The Karnataka government is keen on providing an ecosystem to build India's own passenger/commercial aircraft as part of Make in India, state industries commissioner Gunjan Krishna said on Tuesday.

Speaking at a session on 'Destination Karnataka: US-India defence cooperation, innovation & make in India' at Aero India, Krishna said: "Karnataka is already the country's hub for aerospace and defence, with 25% of India's aircraft and spacecraft industry based here."

She said 67% of all aircraft and helicopter manufacturing for defence services happens in the state and that 65% of India's aerospace-related experts come from Karnataka.

Apart from Bengaluru, the state is also promoting places like Tumakuru, Chamarajanagar and Mysuru as defence aerospace clusters. Krishna said global players like Boeing, Honeywell Aerospace, Airbus, Collins Aerospace, Safran, Raytheon Technologies etc., have a presence in Bengaluru, adding that the foundation for aerospace and defence was laid by PSUs like BEL, HAL, Isro and BEML.

"Karnataka has set up a centre for excellence with Dassault Systemes to provide industry-ready manpower. The state also has a strong base of 2,000 SMEs that carry out niche sub-contracting work," she said.

The aerospace and defence park in Devanahalli provides 2,000 acres of land for aerospace and defence companies, she said.


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