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The Ministry of Civil Aviation is pushing Indian micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs) to expand into aerospace manufacturing and become part of global supply chains, as the country's aviation market is expected to see strong growth over the next decade.
Addressing CII and the Ministry of Civil Aviation's VORTEX 2026 initiative, Union Civil Aviation Minister Kinjarapu Ram Mohan Naidu said India's aerospace and defence market is projected to nearly double from over USD 30 billion in 2025 to USD 61 billion by 2035. He said India's commercial aviation fleet is also expected to more than double to around 2,050 aircraft, creating significant opportunities for domestic manufacturers to supply components to the sector. "We want to create Indian aerospace manufacturing where an electronics manufacturer can see an opportunity in avionics, where a precision engineering company can move into aerospace components," Naidu said. He pointed to the growth of India's auto-component and mobile phone manufacturing sectors as examples of industries that could be replicated in aerospace. The Minister said MSME exports have increased three-fold from around Rs 4 lakh crore in 2021 to Rs 12.4 lakh crore in 2025, with more than 1.73 lakh MSMEs now exporting directly. "Indian carriers have an order book of 1,640 aircrafts which would translate into an estimated 80 crore parts and components that we need to manufacture," Naidu said. Passenger traffic in India is expected to grow at a compound annual growth rate of 8.9 per cent through 2035, which he described as the fastest among major economies. He added that Airbus and Boeing together have orders for more than 15,000 commercial aircraft globally, presenting another opportunity for Indian companies to enter international aerospace supply chains. Civil Aviation Secretary Samir Kumar Sinha said India is already the world's third-largest domestic aviation market, with operational airports increasing from 74 in 2014 to 166 currently. He said the Indian fleet has grown from around 350 aircraft in 2014 to approximately 874, while more than 2,000 aircraft are expected to be added over the next two decades. Sinha said Indian MSMEs and startups currently supply aircraft components worth more than USD 4 billion annually to global original equipment manufacturers (OEMs), while the domestic aerospace manufacturing market could grow to USD 10 billion over the next decade. He emphasised that MSMEs need to invest in technology, quality systems, skills and scale to meet the requirements of the aerospace industry. Airports Authority of India Chairman Vipin Kumar said rising passenger traffic would generate demand across aircraft components, maintenance, repair and overhaul (MRO), ground equipment, navigation systems, airport technology and training. Boeing India and South Asia President Salil Gupte said Boeing has around 300 Indian supplier partners, with MSMEs accounting for 25 per cent of them. "The question before us is not whether India can make aerospace products. That is already happening. The question is how quickly we can scale," Gupte said. VORTEX 2026 aims to bring capable MSMEs from outside the aviation sector into the aerospace ecosystem and help them understand industry standards, requirements and business processes. (ANI)
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