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Nagpur: Reliance Group, led by Anil Ambani, and its JV partner French major Dassault Aviation plan to start production of defence components at its unit in the Mihan-SEZ region here from the first quarter of 2018.
A foundation stone-laying ceremony, which was attended by Ambani, France's minster for armed forces Florence Parly, state's chief minister Devendra Fadnavis and Union minister Nitin Gadkari, was held here on Friday. With a projected infusion of Rs 6,500 crore, this would be the biggest private sector investment in the defence sector. The unit is slated to create 700 direct jobs apart from 5,000 skilled ones through creation of ancillary units.
The production at Mihan-SEZ will begin with components for the Rafale warplanes and Falcon business jet produced by Dassault. It is expected to fully assemble both the aircraft in the Nagpur unit in the coming years.
"Initially, our French counterpart thought that we would be setting up the unit at Bengaluru or Hyderabad where the aviation sector is well-established. If not the two, they thought we may have a plant in Gujarat for obvious reasons. But I said it's Nagpur," said Ambani. "It was only because of the insistence of Nitin Gadkari that we chose a site here. Even chief minister Devendra Fadnavis was equally keen," he added.
Eric Trappier, the CEO of Dassault Aviation, said, "Apart from supplying the aircraft to IAF, the company is also keen to offer the 57 planes needed by Indian Navy. Assembling of the Rafale aircraft at the Nagpur unit would depend on the additional orders it gets. Even the IAF needed 126 aircraft originally but only 36 have been added to its fleet at present."
The joint venture will carry out work under the offset obligation arising out of the deal to buy 36 Rafales from Dassault for the Indian Air Force (IAF).The offset obligation, which comes to Rs 30,000 crore, would be implemented mainly through the Nagpur plant.
However, assembling the aircraft will depend on Dassault getting more orders. The 36 Rafales, for which an order has been placed, will come in ready-to-fly condition. In India, the French is eyeing to bag the deal for supplying 57 Rafale planes for Navy too for which a request for information (RFI) has been issued.
It would be similar in the case of Falcon 2000s too. However, considering the market, ADAG will be setting up a facility having a capacity to make 22 business jets in a year. For Falcon it would begin with making components of the front structure of the aircraft.
The ADAG chief said the Dassault Reliance joint venture has also entered into a tie-up for providing logistical support for the Rafale fleet with the IAF for a period of 50 years.
Parly, the French defence minister, said both France and India are natural allies. "Terrorism is faced by both the countries. We also share concerns over the developments in the Indian Ocean area and look forward for cooperation in terms of sharing information and defence assistance," she said. Parly also pushed France's case for selling the aircraft to the Navy.
Nitin Gadkari said the project will bring Nagpur on the forefront and create new jobs for the region. Fadnavis said he hopes to fly from a Falcon 2000 made in Nagpur. "Incidentally, I flew down to the city in a Falcon along with Anil Ambani," he said.
https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com...output-in-q1-of-2018/articleshow/61280299.cms
A foundation stone-laying ceremony, which was attended by Ambani, France's minster for armed forces Florence Parly, state's chief minister Devendra Fadnavis and Union minister Nitin Gadkari, was held here on Friday. With a projected infusion of Rs 6,500 crore, this would be the biggest private sector investment in the defence sector. The unit is slated to create 700 direct jobs apart from 5,000 skilled ones through creation of ancillary units.
The production at Mihan-SEZ will begin with components for the Rafale warplanes and Falcon business jet produced by Dassault. It is expected to fully assemble both the aircraft in the Nagpur unit in the coming years.
"Initially, our French counterpart thought that we would be setting up the unit at Bengaluru or Hyderabad where the aviation sector is well-established. If not the two, they thought we may have a plant in Gujarat for obvious reasons. But I said it's Nagpur," said Ambani. "It was only because of the insistence of Nitin Gadkari that we chose a site here. Even chief minister Devendra Fadnavis was equally keen," he added.
Eric Trappier, the CEO of Dassault Aviation, said, "Apart from supplying the aircraft to IAF, the company is also keen to offer the 57 planes needed by Indian Navy. Assembling of the Rafale aircraft at the Nagpur unit would depend on the additional orders it gets. Even the IAF needed 126 aircraft originally but only 36 have been added to its fleet at present."
The joint venture will carry out work under the offset obligation arising out of the deal to buy 36 Rafales from Dassault for the Indian Air Force (IAF).The offset obligation, which comes to Rs 30,000 crore, would be implemented mainly through the Nagpur plant.
However, assembling the aircraft will depend on Dassault getting more orders. The 36 Rafales, for which an order has been placed, will come in ready-to-fly condition. In India, the French is eyeing to bag the deal for supplying 57 Rafale planes for Navy too for which a request for information (RFI) has been issued.
It would be similar in the case of Falcon 2000s too. However, considering the market, ADAG will be setting up a facility having a capacity to make 22 business jets in a year. For Falcon it would begin with making components of the front structure of the aircraft.
The ADAG chief said the Dassault Reliance joint venture has also entered into a tie-up for providing logistical support for the Rafale fleet with the IAF for a period of 50 years.
Parly, the French defence minister, said both France and India are natural allies. "Terrorism is faced by both the countries. We also share concerns over the developments in the Indian Ocean area and look forward for cooperation in terms of sharing information and defence assistance," she said. Parly also pushed France's case for selling the aircraft to the Navy.
Nitin Gadkari said the project will bring Nagpur on the forefront and create new jobs for the region. Fadnavis said he hopes to fly from a Falcon 2000 made in Nagpur. "Incidentally, I flew down to the city in a Falcon along with Anil Ambani," he said.
https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com...output-in-q1-of-2018/articleshow/61280299.cms
