The Haryana government has come out with a draft Aerospace and Defence Policy 2017 to provide investors in the sector with an “enabling business eco-system” in the state.

The policy will also help Haryana in becoming a “thriving” aerospace and defence manufacturing hub, and provide strategic direction for development of the sector in the next five years, a spokesman of the Civil Aviation Department said.

He said the policy has the warp and woof of incentives and concessions, and seeks to provide investors the vision and mission of making Haryana a prominent aerospace and defence manufacturing hub.

The government also wants to portray the state as a preferred Maintenance, Repair and Overhaul (MRO) and Fixed Base Operator (FBO) destination in the Asian region, the spokesman said, adding efforts are being made to create infrastructure to provide an “enabling ecosystem”.

Suggestions from stakeholders will be included in the final policy, which aims at attracting investment worth Rs 25,000 crore and creating direct employment for 32,000 people by 2020, he said.

The state plans to increase the share of industry in Gross State Domestic Product (GSDP) from 27 per cent to 32 per cent by leveraging this sector, the spokesman said.

It also aims to attract 50 per cent by value of MRO activities, the market size of which in India is estimated to be around $700 million, he said.

The concessions and incentives offered would include land at concessional rates; reimbursement of stamp duty and registration charge paid on sale or lease deeds on first transaction; exemption from open access charges up to Rs 1.77 per unit of power for five years and subsidy on the cost of land, building plant and machinery, the spokesman said.

Haryana is committed to position itself as the country’s leading aerospace and defence manufacturing hub, and the state has a well-recognised manufacturing proficiency and state-of-the art infrastructure, he said.

The spokesman said the policy’s objectives are aimed at attracting orders for at least 15 per cent of all offset obligations discharged by companies in India by leveraging the existing ancillary base, and promoting new micro small and medium enterprises (MSMEs).

It also seeks to attract 10 per cent by value of the orders in the defence industry in India by attracting investors to set up mega and ultra-mega anchor units; and attract investment of over Rs 25,000 crore throughout the value-chain, including research, design, development, manufacturing, maintenance, quality control and training, he said.

It has been proposed to set up a world class MRO as part of Hisar Aviation Hub, the spokesman said.

“This would be a state-of-the-art facility to provide full aircraft base maintenance services which would also cater to the maintenance needs of regional and global airline customers,” he said.

The state would incentivize the units setting up operations in the earmarked cluster or hub, the spokesman said.

Facilities of MRO and FBO would be built in the upcoming Aerospace Park in Hisar on public private partnership model, he said.

Source: Business Standard