“The Indian market is too important for anybody to ignore. Indian capability is very high. Manufacturing in India is the commitment we have expressed to Indian government.”

India’s time to fly has indeed arrived and Boeing justified the title of its Summit organized on 16th October, 2015 in New Delhi in collaboration with Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Bombay. When W. James (Jim) McNerney, Jr., Chairman of The Boeing Company, said that the company is looking into the possibility of assembling and producing its Chinook and Apache helicopters in India, the world defence manufacturers will take note of it and will feel encouraged to invest in defence manufacturing in India and not only become principal suppliers to Indian armed forces but also use the platform to make for other armed forces around the world.

Indian market for the next decade in defence acquisitions is expected to be in the range of $150 billion as officially disclosed by Indian officials. And if any company has to become competitive and win the contracts, not only for Indian armed forces, but for the rest of the world, it has to come to India and mark its actual footprints on the soil. Boeing is going to take the lead. Jim McNerney announced during the summit that they are in negotiations with the Government of India for local assembly and supply of the Apache attack helicopters and Chinook heavy lift helicopters, a deal worth $ 3.1 billion that was announced on the eve of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s departure to New York for a tete-a–tete with President Barak Obama.

Jim McNerney said that local assembly of the Apache and Chinook helicopters is in active consideration at the Company headquarters. Boeing has already sold India ten C-17 Globemaster, eight P-8I maritime reconnaissance planes and many other defence systems and weapon platforms. Boeing facility in India will be in collaboration with a local private player in the defence sector. According to Jim McNerney, “This is our strategy. The Indian market is too important for anybody to ignore. Indian capability is very high. Manufacturing in India is the commitment we have expressed to Indian government”.

Not only in defence platforms, Boeing is eyeing India’s civil aviation sector as well, which is likely to expand at a phenomenal pace in the country in the coming years. According to estimates, Indian aviation sector will need around 1800 new passenger aircraft in the coming years and to become a competitive player in the civil aviation market. Also, companies will have to take advantage of the skilled manpower and raw materials of the country. According to Jim McNerney, Boeing is manufacturing low cost and highly fuel efficient passenger aircraft that will definitely attract the Indian airlines.

Boeing expects billions of dollars in offsets to India and “We will be happy to do it,” said the Chairman. “India today has become an investment destination. The civil nuclear deal unlocked a lot and the ground reality is changing fast in India”. He also had high praise for Prime Minister Narendra Modi mentioning his business meetings in USA that attracted the who’s who of the US corporate world. According to Jim, there was not a single US CEO who was not there. The discussions in the meetings were real and everybody talked assuringly. Commenting on India, in his last statement, Jim said, “Things are changing fast and we are very optimistic”.