Since aerospace is a niche segment, has it been challenging to find the right talent in India? Do you have in-house training infrastructure and programmes to address this issue?
Finding the right talent is certainly one of the primary challenges in both our businesses. Hence, we are investing in human resources and skill development. We partnered with a large Tier 1 for on-the-job training of the core team at their Europe and American facilities. These trained persons then became the nucleus of operations and developed our QMS and processes in India. For subsequent growth we have identified specific technical institutes and universities in India to attract capable youngsters, and have initiated an onsite training school with subject matter experts to tutor them in industry-specific requirements.

Tell us about the technical collaborations or partnerships that you have with international companies.
We have signed multiple strategic partnerships with reputed Tier 1s and Tier 2s in Europe and elsewhere to partner on specific opportunities, especially for aerospace assemblies.

How would you analyse the ‘Make in India' initiative in the context of your industry?
It is an excellent policy initiative to spur growth in this niche manufacturing sector. India needs to build a robust ecosystem for aerospace if it has to evolve to the next level in this segment. Companies will have to invest in creating capability, take advantage of this proactive policy by Government but most importantly be ready to invest for long-term.

How do you see the aerospace engineering and manufacturing sector in India growing in the next five years?
We believe that there is a great potential for Indian Aerospace sector to grow in coming years. India has a unique advantage of being one of the biggest markets for Commercial Aviation as well as Defense. Major OEMs are now actively looking to develop supply chain in India and source Engineering services as well as components & assemblies. Driven by the Make in India initiative and powered by State Govt. support, we see potential for growth.

How do you see Mahindra Aerospace evolving in the next five years?
We are committed to grow in Aerospace and have been consistently investing on growing our products and capabilities. In aerostructures - our aspiration is to complete our ongoing ramp-up on detail parts and small assemblies, then expand into larger assemblies and aerostructures. For this we will build partnering models with established expertise in areas like complex machining and composites. The goal is to integrate India into the global supply chain and cater to multiple product lines.
In our Utility Aircraft business, we will launch our new turboprop Airvan 10, and want to expand our market share. We are keenly interested in India's air-connectivity solutions and will also revisit the Twin-Turboprop Utility aircraft business case.

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