The Hindu Business Line : TN Govt proposes to set up aero park

Chennai, Sept 2 The Tamil Nadu Government plans to set up an aero park for global aerospace and aeronautics industry in the areas of design, manufacture and maintenance of aircrafts, according to Dr C. Chandramouli, Tamil Nadu IT Secretary.

The park will be similar to those in Dubai, China and Singapore, he said. Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh have announced similar plans to tap the huge business potential in the aerospace industry.

The Tamil Nadu Government is looking at a concept paper on aero parks prepared by the Confederation of Indian Industry. Aero parks will also be the theme of this year’s Connect 2008, the annual ICT event of Tamil Nadu to be held in Chennai between September 11 and 13. Experts from the aviation industry will give their suggestions for the aero park , Dr Chandramouli told newspersons.

The State Government will provide all support for the aero park, which will involve the private enterprises. Tamil Nadu has the natural advantage of a strong auto component industry and it is a logical step to move into the aviation sector. Currently, around 40 companies in and around Chennai are supplying components to global aviation companies, he said.

Huge opportunity

According to Mr Subu D. Subramanian, Chairman, Connect 2008, the Government of India has ordered for 125 defence and civilian aircrafts worth $9 billion. Opportunity in design alone was worth $5 billion, he said.

The aero park could create one lakh direct and indirect jobs for the highly skilled jobs in aerospace and avionics.

The Union Government has mandated a 30 per cent offset clause under which the winning company has to ensure that it acquires goods or services from India worth 30 per cent of total value of the contract. This provides a huge opportunity for Tamil Nadu to attract huge investment in the aviation sector, he said.

Mr Subramanian, who is also Director and Senior Vice-President at Satyam Computer Services, said global aviation players, including Boeing and Airbus, spend nearly $1.5 trillion on aviation, including $60 billion in engineering. They are looking at India for IT engineering and design. “Tamil Nadu should take a lead in the aviation sector by setting up the aero park,” he said.

ICT Academy

Mr Lakshmi Narayanan, Vice-Chairman, Cognizant Technology Solutions, will be Chairman of the ICT Academy of Tamil Nadu, which will train faculty in tier-II and III colleges of Tamil Nadu. The course will begin on October 1, Mr Subramanian said.

Other members of the academy are Mr Sameer Garde of Dell Computers, Vice-Chairman, Mr Jayaramakrishnan, Vice President, Tata Consultancy Services (convener); Mr Subu D. Subramanian (Joint convener); Mr Gopal Srinivasan, TVS Capital Funds (Treasurer); Mr Raghunandan of Redington and Mr Manickam Ramaswami of Loyal Textiles will be founder members of the academy.

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