NEW DELHI:
India’s aerospace market is expected to nearly double from more than $30 billion in 2025 to $61 billion by 2035, Civil Aviation Minister K Ram Mohan Naidu said on Thursday.
Addressing CII and Ministry of Civil Aviation Vortex 2026, a national initiative aimed at integrating Indian MSMEs into global aerospace supply chains, Naidu said India’s commercial aviation fleet was also expected to more than double to around 2,050 aircraft.
The minister said the growth would create major opportunities for Indian manufacturers and MSMEs to become part of global aerospace supply chains. He urged companies in sectors such as electronics, precision engineering and automobile components to explore opportunities in aerospace manufacturing.
Naidu cited India’s automobile-component and mobile-phone industries as examples of sectors that could provide models for the development of aerospace manufacturing. He said 99 per cent of mobile phones used in India were now manufactured domestically.
The minister said Indian carriers currently had an order book of 1,640 aircraft, which could translate into demand for an estimated 80 crore parts and components. He also said passenger traffic in India was expected to grow at 8.9 per cent annually through 2035.
Naidu said Airbus and Boeing together had orders for more than 15,000 commercial aircraft globally, describing this as another opportunity for Indian MSMEs.
Civil Aviation Secretary Samir Kumar Sinha said India was already the world’s third-largest domestic aviation market. He said the number of operational airports had increased from 74 in 2014 to 166, while the country’s aircraft fleet had grown from around 350 to approximately 874.
Airports Authority of India Chairman Vipin Kumar said Indian MSMEs and start-ups already supplied aircraft components worth more than Rs 18,000 crore annually to the global market.
According to the officials, rising passenger traffic will create demand for aircraft and components as well as maintenance, repair and overhaul services, ground equipment, navigation systems, airport technologies, training facilities and digital solutions.