Bengaluru: Global giants Airbus, Rolls-Royce, Safran, and Collins Aerospace are looking to significantly scale up sourcing from India, key officials from the four companies said on Thursday.
Speaking at a panel discussion on “India at the Core: Shaping the Future of Global A&D Sourcing” during the Global Investors’ Meet – Invest Karnataka 2025, they expressed confidence in India’s prospects within the global aerospace and defence supply chain.
Michel Narchi, Head of International Operations at Airbus, said the maturity this sector has achieved in India over the past few years is “incredible and amazing.”
He added that Airbus is keen to capitalise on its partnership with India.
“If I compare where we were only five years ago to where we are today in terms of the supply chain… this partnership has doubled the volume in the past five years. Today we can proudly say that India contributes more than a billion euros to Airbus’ overall supply chain,” he said.
Narchi added that Airbus anticipates this figure to increase steadily and significantly in the coming years.
Jean-Noel Mahieu, EVP of Operations at Safran Electronics and Defense, emphasised the importance of strengthening the company’s partnership with India.
Huw Morgan, Senior Vice-President of Aerospace Procurement at Rolls-Royce, said the company aims to expand its long-standing relationship with India.
“We are looking to double our sourcing in the region over the next five years,” he stated.
According to Savyasachi Srinivas, Vice-President, of Engineering at Collins Aerospace, Collins does about USD half a billion of exports from India annually.
He anticipates it to significantly increase over the next few years.
Srinivasan Dwarakanath, Director General of the Aerospace India Association and former CEO and MD of Airbus India said that both Boeing and Airbus in their global market forecast have stated that over the next 20 years, there will be a demand for more than 42,000 new aircraft.
“India has ordered a significant number of aircraft which is also going to result in an uptick in the global supply chain. In 2023, the value of the global aerospace supply chain was about USD 180 billion and by 2033 it will go up to USD 250 billion,” Dwarakanath said.
In 2023, India ordered the maximum number of aircraft, he added, pointing out that despite fueling growth in the global aviation market, the Indian aerospace supply chain contributes only about one per cent of the global supply chain.
“This is disproportionately below the value of the import of the aircraft and components. Aerospace exports annually from India is as little as USD two billion,” he added.
