NEW DELHI: Recognising the immense potential for employment generation and value addition in the Maintenance, Repair, and Overhaul (MRO) sector, India is aiming to emerge as a global hub, with plans to collaborate with Singapore in this area.
“Maintenance, repair of aircraft is gaining a lot of importance for us. A tremendous amount of employment can be generated and value addition can be made. India could become a hub of MRO for others as well. Singapore is itself a very strong MRO centre. They too are looking forward to working with us, and we are also looking forward to working with them," stated MEA Secretary (East) Jaideep Mazumdar.
Mazumdar was addressing the media regarding the ongoing visit of Singapore President Tharman Shanmugaratnam to India. Following his engagements in Delhi, the President is scheduled to visit Odisha for two days starting Friday, during which at least eight agreements are expected to be signed between the island nation and the coastal state.
The Indian government has taken several initiatives to facilitate the establishment of aircraft MRO services in the country. The Civil Aviation Minister, Kinjarapu Ram Mohan Naidu, had informed the Lok Sabha in August that the value of India’s MRO industry is projected to grow from USD 2 billion to USD 4 billion over the next seven years.
According to data from the Union Ministry of Civil Aviation, various policy, regulatory, and incentive-based measures have been implemented to boost the domestic MRO sector.
New MRO guidelines introduced on 1 September 2021 include provisions for land allotments for MRO services at airports managed by the Airports Authority of India. Additionally, the Goods and Services Tax (GST) on MRO services was reduced from 18 per cent to 5 per cent from 1 April 2020, with a full input tax credit made available.
To further promote Indian MRO providers, subcontracted transactions by foreign original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) and MROs are now treated as "exports" and attract zero-rated GST, effective from 1 April 2020.
Mazumdar also noted the ongoing collaborations between India and Singapore in the energy and data sectors. “There is already some work going on in terms of the energy corridor, which is the Energy Corridor hydrogen between India and Singapore along the eastern part of India,” he said.
Earlier on Thursday, Prime Minister Narendra Modi reaffirmed the Comprehensive Strategic Partnership between India and Singapore during his meeting with President Shanmugaratnam. The leaders discussed advanced sectors such as semiconductors, digitalisation, skilling, and connectivity.
Highlighting the discussions, PM Modi posted on X, "Earlier this evening, met the President of Singapore, Mr. Tharman Shanmugaratnam. We discussed the full range of the India-Singapore Comprehensive Strategic Partnership. We talked about futuristic sectors like semiconductors, digitalisation, skilling, connectivity and more. We also spoke on ways to improve cooperation in industry, infrastructure and culture."