HYDERABAD: IT Minister KT Rama Rao has said that there is a huge potential to invest in aerospace and defence sectors in Telangana. Participating in the curtain raiser event for Wings India 2020 in New Delhi on Thursday, Rama Rao said that the Telangana government is providing basic amenities for aerospace and defence sectors.
He said that efforts are on to start airports at Warangal, Adilabad, Kothagudem, Jakranpally, Peddapalli and Mahbubnagar (Addakal), and heliports at several other places.
Rama Rao asked the Union government to support Telangana’s plan to expand aerospace sector by providing sufficient funds. Stating that Telangana got huge investments in the past five years in the aerospace sector, he said that T-Hub start-ups too were working with companies engaged in aerospace.
He pointed out that Telangana was the first State to come up with its own drone policy to develop an ecosystem for the drone/ UAV industry. Wings India 2020 is an international exhibition and conference on civil aviation sector slated to be held in Hyderabad in March.
Union Civil Aviation Minister Hardeep Singh Puri too was present at the event. KTR thanked Hardeep Singh Puri for holding the Wings India 2020 event in Hyderabad. Rama Rao told the Union Minister that after the formation of Telangana, several companies like Boeing, GE, Safran, Rafale and others have invested in the State. Around 1,000 companies in MSME sector are working in aerospace and defence sectors in Telangana, the minister said.
There are four aerospace parks in the State, and several electronic manufacturing clusters, hardware parks and technology SEZs are also located in the State, he said. The IT Minister met representatives of Airbus, GE Aviation, Safran, BAE and United Technologies and requested them to start tech-support services in tier-two cities like Warangal in aerospace and defence sectors.
The State government was imparting training for youth through Telangana Academy for Skill and Knowledge (TASK) to provide required human resources to the aerospace and defence companies, he added. Thales Aviation vice-president Kapil Kishore, United Technologies regional director Samit Ray also met Rama Rao.