1. One of the key announcements of Union Finance Minister concerning the civil aviation sector has been the announcement on MRO (maintenance, repair and operations).
2. In the business, manufacturing and supply chain areas, the MRO acronym stands for maintenance, repair and operations.
3. It can also refer to the similar maintenance, repair and operating supplies.
4. A competitive Indian MRO industry would help local airlines reduce expenses on such works which are currently done mostly overseas.
5. India is one of the fastest-growing aviation markets in the world and has high growth potential.
6. Aircraft component repairs and airframe maintenance segment is worth around Rs 800 crore and would increase to Rs 2,000 crore in three years.
7. India can be the centre for many of the flights that go to South East Asia, Australia and westwards.
8. According to the Economic Survey for 2019-20, the annual import of MRO services by Indian carriers is around Rs 9,700 crore.
9. With airlines’ fleet growing annually by 100, the size of domestic and imported Indian airline MRO is set to grow annually to Rs 21,600 crore in the next five years and to Rs 36,000 crore once the fleet size reaches 2,000 aircraft.
10. Apart from MROs, more airports through PPP mode, and flexible use of airspace have been on the government agenda.
11. The biggest upside will be its ability to create new jobs and a strong global value chain with the civil-defence business interface, which remains constrained and under-leveraged.
12. The move to invite PPP in six more airports will provide AAI the resources to develop smaller airports across the country and popularise the government’s Udaan scheme.