The Karnataka Government has invited Tata-Singapore JV airline, Vistara to set up its hub in Bengaluru and has also promised it would address the issue of high sales tax on ATF. Tata Vistara airline is a joint venture between Tata Sons Limited and Singapore Airlines Limited (SIA) with Tata Sons holding the majority stake of 51 per cent in the company.
“I had one-to-one meeting with Phee Teik Yeoh, CEO, Vistara and other company officials, here at Aero India. I have requested them to set up its base here in Bengaluru similar to Air Asia,” Karnataka Chief Secretary Kaushik Mukherjee told BusinessLine .
“I made the proposal to the CEO keeping their expansion in mind and vibrancy of Kempegowda International airport operated by BIAL. The airport has been clocking 9 per cent growth annually for the past couple of years and passenger traffic has touched 7 million,” he added.
Regarding the issue of high sales tax on ATF, Mukherjee said that since it is budget time, “I am going to sit with finance ministry and work out a solution on it.” Mukherjee added that “the airline is keen on setting up a hub here in Bengaluru as the city has good connectivity to Europe and south-east Asian cities. We have told the company officials that we can hand hold them in their requirements on case to case basis.”
On the third day of Aero India, the Karnataka government was able to draw commitments from a few companies for setting up their businesses here. Karnataka Additional Chief Secretary, Commerce and Industries, K Rathna Prabha said “the chief executive officers of Jubilant and MAG India have promised investments to the tune of about ₹270 crore and ₹80 crore, respectively.”
Kaushik Mukherjee, Rathna Prabha and state commissioner for industrial development, Gaurav Gupta, met with number of high level delegations from various countries and chief executives of global aerospace majors at the Aero India.
Big players Chief among them were GIFAS delegation lead by Vincent Gorry, Director of International Affairs, the German delegation lead by Uwe Beckmeyer, Parliamentary State Secretary, Israel companies lead by Menahem Kanafi, Consul General and CEO of Dynamatic Technologies, who showed keen interest in associating with Indian SMEs in Aerospace and Defence sector.
Besides a high level delegation of Rolls Royce, Bharath Forge, Boeing, Airbus, BEML, Nasmyth group and others have shown their continued interest in their investment in Karnataka and few have sought land and other facilities for expanding their operations.