/cloudfront-us-east-2.images.arcpublishing.com/reuters/FUOCFJIPZNKFBCTQ5AO3SRRTRM.jpg "India PM Modi says won't be long before Boeing makes aircraft in India 1")
January 19, BENGALURU (Reuters) – Primarily, Prime Minister Narendra Modi stated at the opening of the aircraft manufacturer’s engineering center in Bengaluru on Friday that India will not have to wait too long for a Boeing (BA.N), opens new tab aircraft that is designed and manufactured in the subcontinent.
The company’s largest facility outside of the United States, the Boeing India Engineering & Technology Center (BIETC) in the capital city of the southern Indian state of Karnataka, will be dedicated to research and development.
The 43-acre campus was said to have cost $200 million to build, but the company did not disclose how many people would be employed there. Across all of its centers, Boeing currently employs over 6,000 people in India.
Senior Boeing executives, including Chief Operating Officer Stephanie Pope, were present at the event, where Modi emphasized the importance of developing an ecosystem in India for aircraft manufacturing.
“We need to quickly establish an ecosystem for aircraft manufacturing in India, given its enormous potential,” Modi declared.
India is currently the fastest-growing aviation market in the world, and as a result, demand for Boeing aircraft has increased significantly.
The youngest airline in India, Akasa Air, placed orders for 150 737 MAX narrowbody planes with the manufacturer on Thursday.
Last year, Jyotiraditya Scindia, India’s minister of civil aviation, told Reuters in an exclusive interview that it was time for rival Airbus (AIR.PA) and Boeing (BAE) to consider considering establishing airliner assembly in the nation.
Boeing and the Tata Group of India have partnered to produce vertical fin structures for the 737 aircraft and AH-64 Apache helicopter fuselages.
