Dassault to manufacture business jets in India
Following last year’s deal of importing 36 Rafale jets to India, French aerospace manufacturer, Dassault is now going to ‘Make in India’.
French aerospace company, Dassault, a manufacturer of military aircraft and business jets, may soon start its warehouse manufacturing business aircraft in India.
The builder of Rafale fighter jets will be building the Falcon 2000 planes in the country, where it is looking at a lower manufacturing cost and a maintained quality. The move will also give the company a competitive edge, chief executive officer Eric Trappier said in an interview on the sidelines of the National Business Aviation Association’s annual conference in Las Vegas.
“We really want to do something which is a real industrial cooperation in India,” Trappier said. “We are starting a big partnership.”
Headquartered in Paris, Dassault is looking at strengthening its ties with India. Last year with which the company won a contract for supplying 36 Rafale aircraft as a result of its initial bid of 126 Rafale. India had initially agreed to buy all the 126 jets, and even manufacture some of them locally.
The manufacturing of Falcon 2000 locally is seen as a boost to Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s ‘Make in India’ campaign, which aims to get foreign companies to manufacture in India, and thus create jobs in the Indian market.
Worth USD 2.3 trillion, the Indian economy has for decades been behind China’s in context of manufacturing. Post Falcon 2000 being made in India, the gap shall be reduced with the giant neighbour, which successfully tested its first home-made commercial passenger jet this year.
Earlier, when the Modi government decided to import the Rafale jets, the Indian National Congress (INC), the main opposition party criticised the move saying the prime minister’s call for “Make in India” sound hollow.
