At a time when the global aerospace industry was grappling with fractured supply chains and an acute shortage of reliable suppliers, Hyderabad-based Jeh Aerospace emerged with a clear purpose — to bridge a critical gap in high-precision manufacturing. Founded by industry veterans Vishal Sanghavi and Venkatesh Mudragalla, who previously led several aerospace ventures under the Tata Group, the company was launched in the aftermath of the pandemic when global aerospace OEMs struggled to keep pace with surging demand. Focusing on the Tier-2 layer of the aerospace ecosystem — the segment responsible for nearly 70 percent of manufacturing value and one that remains the most strained globally — the company has quickly built momentum. In a short span, it has delivered over 1,50,000 flight-critical aero-engine components, scaled a team of more than 100 engineers and technicians, and strengthened its innovation ecosystem through initiatives such as the Jeh Centre for Aerospace Skills and the Jeh Centre of Resilience. CE interacts with Venkatesh Mudragalla, co-founder and CEO of Jeh Aerospace, to understand its foundation, challenges and the road ahead.
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What led to the founding of Jeh Aerospace?
Having worked closely with leading global OEMs such as Airbus and Boeing, we realised two key things. First, unlike most industries where manufacturing has shifted to emerging or low-cost economies, aerospace manufacturing still largely happens in high-cost countries. Second, while OEMs are the face of the industry, a significant portion of the value creation actually happens at Tier 1 and Tier 2 suppliers. After the pandemic, demand for aerospace rebounded sharply in a V-shaped recovery, but the supply chain — especially at these tiers — struggled to keep up, leading to widespread disruptions that OEMs still cite as a primary concern. Recognising this gap, and drawing on over a decade of industry experience, we saw an opportunity to move more manufacturing to cost-efficient emerging markets like India while also addressing challenges such as labour shortages and talent attrition in traditional hubs. At the same time, many Tier 1 and Tier 2 suppliers had little meaningful presence in India, which led us to establish Jeh Aerospace with a focus on supporting these crucial layers of the aerospace ecosystem.
Why has the Tier 2 layer remained less visible despite creating most of the manufacturing value?
The aerospace supply chain is highly fragmented. Although Tier 2 suppliers account for nearly 70 percent of the industry’s value, this work is not concentrated in a few companies but spread across hundreds and thousands of smaller shops, largely in the US and Western Europe. This structure has historical roots dating back to World War I and World War II, when many small manufacturers began supplying components for defence aerospace. Over time, much of the knowledge and capabilities developed in defence also fed into commercial aerospace, allowing this ecosystem of suppliers to expand. Even today, many companies supplying commercial aircraft also work on defence platforms. As a result, the supply chain remains widely distributed and difficult to manage or control. While OEMs could theoretically consolidate suppliers, the cost of shifting sources and finding vendors capable of handling larger scopes of work has been a major barrier. This led to the emergence of larger Tier 1 ‘super tier’ suppliers such as Spirit AeroSystems and GKN Aerospace, but beyond them the ecosystem still includes hundreds of smaller suppliers, typically ranging from $10 million to $200 million in scale.
What makes Jeh dependable in an industry where even a small tolerance miss can ground an aircraft?
In this industry, delays should definitely be avoided, but what is even more important is the quality of the product you supply. Because we have spent the last 15 years in this industry and worked closely with OEMs, we inherently understand what good looks like. It may sound simple, but in this industry, delivering a conforming product consistently and on time is very difficult. The first challenge is that the processes are extremely stringent. Secondly, product complexity is very high. Some of the tolerances we work with are at the micron level. To draw a comparison with the automotive industry, where tolerances are measured in millimetres, here we work in microns. The product complexity itself is extremely high, and the processes are also very stringent because these are safety-critical components.
What differentiates Jeh from other players?
Our biggest strength is the team. Having spent several years working closely with leading global OEMs, we understand the industry’s process requirements and what it takes to succeed. Beyond just the founders, we have built a strong team of about 150 people, including some of the country’s top aerospace engineers, enabling us to consistently deliver products that meet global standards. Another key differentiator is that Jeh Aerospace operates as a digitally native company. While much of the aerospace industry still relies on manual processes — such as purchase orders and shop floor communication through emails and calls — our shop floor is completely paperless. From receiving a purchase order to delivering the final component, every stage runs on integrated digital systems like PLM, MES and ERP, creating a seamless digital thread. This significantly enhances traceability, which is critical in aerospace, where detailed records of materials, manufacturing processes, machines and inspections must be maintained for years or even decades. Because our systems are fully digital, we can retrieve this information instantly, something that could take days or months in traditional setups. It also allows us to implement changes — such as drawing updates — much faster, since updates automatically reflect across the system. Together, these capabilities place us in a uniquely strong position in the industry.
What learnings from your time at the Tata Group did you apply while building Jeh Aerospace?
Tata has done an amazing job in the last decade, and we are very proud of the work we did there and the learnings we gained. They were among the first private sector movers in this space in India, so there was a significant learning curve. Today, we have the advantage of starting from where we left. All the learnings from those years have helped us design Jeh from day one. For example, the digital journey I mentioned earlier — we knew the impact it could have, so we made the decision to become a digitally native company right from the start. Similarly, we have applied learnings around engineering efficiencies, how to programme components and build engineering processes so that manufacturing happens in the most efficient way. Another unique aspect we are bringing in is the use of AI. Because we operate a digitally managed shop floor, all the data we capture digitally has an AI layer on top of it. We use this AI to generate intelligent metrics that give deeper insights into running our manufacturing operations more efficiently.
How is Jeh Aerospace addressing the talent shortage?
Aerospace is still a nascent industry in India. Apart from some public sector units, the rest of the ecosystem is only about 10 to 15 years old. So there has always been a shortage of aerospace-specific skills in the country. Like every other industry, aerospace too is facing a huge talent shortage. We are addressing this in two ways. One unique step we have taken is setting up something called the Centre of Aerospace Skill. It is a fully operational in-house training centre where we train all our people. We go to diploma institutes and engineering colleges, recruit fresh graduates and diploma holders, bring them into our training centre and train them from the ground up. We always maintain a pipeline of trained resources so that our customers always have the necessary talent support.
What has been the toughest barrier to scaling so far?
One of the biggest challenges has been building a strong team, as talent is critical in a highly specialised industry like aerospace. The second is capital. Aerospace manufacturing is extremely capital-intensive, and for a startup entering this space, access to funding in India can be limited and often expensive. However, we were fortunate to establish credibility with investors early on. Jeh Aerospace has successfully raised two rounds of funding — a seed round from General Catalyst and a Series A round from Elevation Capital — along with a strategic investment from IndiGo Ventures, the venture arm of IndiGo. This support has made our funding journey relatively smoother. The third challenge is earning customer trust. In aerospace, converting an initial conversation into a contract can take anywhere between 12 to 18 months, which makes it difficult for startups that must invest heavily while waiting for business to materialise. Fortunately, the credibility we carried from our previous experience helped us secure early breakthroughs that allowed us to sustain and grow.
In light of recent aircraft incidents globally, how does Jeh reinforce safety at the component level?
In Jeh aerospace, quality takes the utmost priority. We focus on safety not just at the product level but also at the process level. For example, our digital systems incorporate safeguards. When a component is manufactured, only a qualified inspector can approve it. The inspector must log into the system and scan their barcode. If they are not authorised, they cannot approve the component. In a traditional system someone could sign and stamp approval. In our system, digital controls prevent that. These are examples of digital poka-yoke mechanisms built into our processes. We also ensure that our processes are designed to scale to higher levels as we grow. Our experience in handling large teams and complex projects helps in building such systems.
Is India’s policy environment aligned with the speed at which aerospace supply chains are shifting globally?
There has been a lot of positive work from the government, both for aerospace and manufacturing in general. Initiatives like Make in India and Aatma Nirbhar Bharat have created a favourable environment. We are definitely seeing improvements in ease of doing business, particularly for manufacturing and aerospace. The recent budget announcements also reflect consistency in policy and strong capital outlay, which is very important for this industry. Defence spending has increased, infrastructure investments are being made and logistics improvements are being prioritised. Logistics is particularly important because this industry involves significant imports and exports. Better logistics will make Indian manufacturers more competitive globally.
What does the roadmap ahead look like for Jeh Aerospace?
We are currently one of the fastest-growing aerospace manufacturing organisations in India, possibly globally. In the past year, our team has grown from fewer than 40 people to about 150, and our revenues have tripled. We aim to maintain this growth trajectory over the next few years while creating employment for more than 500 people.