New Delhi

Indian aviation sector offers immense opportunities for MSMEs, and efforts are underway to have more Indian suppliers in the global aerospace market, Civil Aviation Minister K Rammohan Naidu said on Thursday.

Global aerospace players have a strong interest in India's aviation sector, Naidu said and highlighted that Indian airlines have placed orders for over 1,600 aircraft.

Speaking at a conference organised by industry body CII in the national capital, the minister also said that India cannot be just a place for assembling aerospace components but a place for designing, certifying and manufacturing the components.

India is the world's third largest domestic aviation market.

Naidu said the country's aerospace and defence market is poised to nearly double from over USD 30 billion in 2025 to USD 61 billion by 2035.

Also, the commercial aviation fleet is expected to more than double to around 2,050 aircraft, creating a massive opportunity for Indian manufacturers and MSMEs to become part of global aerospace supply chains, he said.

According to Naidu, Indian airlines have an order book of 1,640 aircraft, which would translate into an estimated 80 crore parts and components that we need to manufacture.

"Globally, Airbus and Boeing together have orders for over 15,000 commercial aircraft, and this is not just about what is coming to India.

"This is another big opportunity for our Indian MSME sector," he added.

Indian MSMEs and startups already supply aircraft components worth more than USD 4 billion to global Original Equipment Manufacturers (OEMs) annually.

"The domestic aerospace manufacturing market has the potential to grow into a USD 10 billion industry over the next decade, but potential does not automatically become production; it requires a deliberate ecosystem," he said.

At the conference, Civil Aviation Secretary Samir Kumar Sinha said various models for manufacturing aircraft in India are being looked at.

Boeing India and South Asia President Salil Gupte said the company sources products and services worth nearly Rs 14,000 crore from India annually.

The aircraft maker has around 300 suppliers in India, and out of them, 25 per cent are MSMEs.

Highlighting the aerospace potential of India, Gupte said it is not about manufacturing aerospace components in the country but to how quickly it can scaled up.

Gupte, also the Chairman of CII National Committee on Aerospace Manufacturing, emphasised the need for Indian entities to manufacture complete assemblies and complex systems as well as develop intellectual property.

"The opportunity before us is not to indigenise Indian aerospace manufacturing, but to internationalise Indian aerospace manufacturing," he said.

Airports Authority of India (AAI) Chairman Vipin Kumar said the growing civil aviation sector in the country provides opportunities for MSMEs and also stressed the importance of skilling activities.

AAI airports can be the ground for innovations, and efforts should be made to design, certify and manufacture airport equipment in India as well as export it.

They were speaking at the conference VORTEX 2026 on National Initiative for MSME Integration into Global Aerospace Supply Chains organised by CII in partnership with the civil aviation ministry.