BENGALURU: The Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman's announcement to make India a hub for Maintenance and Repair Overhaul (MRO) for aircraft has offered the much-needed relief to an aviation industry gasping for survival in the Covid-19 era. It will open up a huge foreign market as well as generate much domestic employment, the industry says.
Bharat Malkani, president of the MRO Association, said there are 600 aircraft in India and their maintenance and repairs is a billion-dollar affair annually. He said, “The big centres for the MRO industry are in Mumbai and New Delhi. The biggest chunk of operational expenses of any aircraft goes towards maintenance as it ensures safety of the aircraft and passengers.
We have a good domestic market. Hence, these moves will help make us much more effective.” D Anand Bhaskar, CEO of Air Works, India’s largest and oldest maintenance concern which is into its 70th year now, said, “We presently have only 1% of the global MRO industry share. Making India a hub means the engine, as well as the components, can be overhauled here once the infrastructure is in place.
At present, the parts have to be taken to Europe for repairs.” “We have expanded our maintenance services beyond the shores of India and are servicing aircraft from Vietnam, Burma, UAE, Turkey, Nepal etc in our region. Creating an MRO hub will generate huge employment in India,” Bhaskar added.
Another major move announced for the industry which did not come into public space was the slashing of GST for the domestic sector of MRO from 18% to 5% and the doing away with the 10% GST on international components. The order was issued on March 28.