India should come out with policy initiatives for local manufacturing of commercial planes as its aviation market is poised to become the third largest in the world, SpiceJet chief Ajay Singh said on Tuesday.
SpiceJet got a shout-out from US President Donald Trump, as he stood along with Prime Minister Narendra Modi in the White House Rose Garden, for orders placed with US aircraft maker Boeing.
“I was pleased to learn about an Indian airlines’ recent order of 100 new American planes, one of the largest orders of its kind, which will support thousands and thousands of American jobs,” Trump said, without naming SpiceJet which has placed the $22 billion order.
Singh, who has piloted the no-frills airline out of troubled times, said the Indian government should come out with policy initiatives for manufacturing commercial planes inside the country.
“It (making commercial planes in India) has not been given a thought to, at the moment,” Singh told the news agency in an interview.
When the Government can talk to companies like Apple about assembly of phones, why not the plane manufacturers, he wondered and stressed that the Government needs to start discussions with aircraft makers to understand what they need.
Noting that India is projected to become the world’s third-largest commercial aviation market by 2020, Singh said Indian airlines have placed orders for more than 600 commercial planes.
If the Indian Government can push for making military planes -- when the orders are for little over 120 – it is time that New Delhi thinks on those lines for commercial planes too under the ‘Make in India’ programme, Singh said.
“They have been talking about it on the military side but on the commercial side, there has been nothing much,” the SpiceJet Chairman and Managing Director said.
India’s domestic aviation market is one of the fastest growing in the world and has been witnessing double-digit growth for more than two years.
“I think we need to...Put some pressure on our manufacturers, much as we are doing on the (fighter jets) transaction.
“To say that look, there is a huge market available for you in India, so why don’t you manufacture hereIJ Perhaps, there can be some form of concessions given to people who might want to manufacture in India. Both tax concessions as well as creating a market opportunity for them,” Singh said.