In Big Push For 'Make in India', PM Lays Foundation Stone Of Tata-Airbus C295 Aircraft Facility In Gujarat

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Sunday laid the foundation stone of the C-295 transport aircraft manufacturing facility — India's first in the private sector in Vadodara, Gujarat. 

The inauguration was attended by Union Defence Minister Rajnath Singh, Airbus CCO Christian Scherer and Tata Sons chairperson N Chandrasekaran

Apart from that Samir Mehta, Chairman of Torrent Group; Dilip Shanghvi, Managing Director of Sun Pharmaceutical Industries; Sanjeev Goenka, Chairman of RP-Sanjiv Goenka Group and Niraj Bajaj, Non-Executive Director of Bajaj Auto also attended the event.

According to the Prime Minister's Office (PMO), the facility will manufacture C-295 aircraft for the Indian Air Force (IAF) through collaboration between Tata Advanced Systems and Airbus Defence and Space S.A., Spain. 

"This is the first project of its kind in which a military aircraft will be manufactured in India by a private company," PMO said in a statement. 

The total cost of the project is Rs 21,935 crore and it can be used for civilian purposes as well. Also, a total of 40 aircraft are to be made in India by Tata Consortium and Airbus Defence. 

"Multi-role C-295 aircraft can operate under all weather conditions during the day as well as night; Equipped for quick reaction and para dropping of troops/cargo," PMO added. 

While addressing the gathering, PM Modi said that India is moving forward with the mantra of ‘Make in India, Make for the World’.

“We aim to scale our defence manufacturing beyond USD 25 billion by 2025; Defence exports will exceed USD 5 billion," Modi added. 

Meanwhile, the Union Defence Minister termed the manufacturing facility as a major milestone in the journey of Aatmanirbharta in defence. 

Singh said that our aim is to cater to armed forces’ needs through domestic manufacturing and make India a net defence exporter.