India offers lot of opportunities to aviation sector: Financial Services Secretary Vivek Joshi

India offers a lot of opportunities to the aviation industry, and the government has taken many initiatives to promote investment in the sector, Financial Services Secretary Vivek Joshi said on Saturday.
Addressing a roundtable conference on the airport sector organised by IIFCL, Joshi said the launch of the 'Ude Desh ka Aam Nagarik' (UDAN) scheme has led to significant development of the sector in the past 7-8 years.

As a result, the number of airports has almost doubled from 74 in 2014 to 148 in 2023, giving a boost to regional connectivity.

The government has additionally given in-principle approval for setting up 21 greenfield airports across the country, he noted.

Further, he said, two big airports coming up in Noida and Navi Mumbai will add to the capacity of the airports in the country.

India's aviation industry has seen a remarkable boost in recent years facilitated by the government's investor-friendly legislation, supportive ecosystem and growing demand.

The aviation industry in India is the third-largest and fastest-growing in the world, expanding at a rate of about 10 per cent during the last decade, roughly 2.5 times the global average.

To give a further boost to the aviation sector, Joshi said, the Ministry of Corporate Affairs earlier this week issued a notification excluding transactions involving aircraft, plane engines, airframes and helicopters from the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code (IBC).

"The ministry has exempted the aircraft leasing from Section 14 of IBC, which I think will be a great help for this sector," Joshi said.

Section 14 of the IBC deals with the power of adjudicating authority (NCLT) to issue a moratorium when admitting a company to the insolvency resolution process.

Once the moratorium on asset transactions is imposed, activities like the institution of suits, continuation of pending suits, execution of judgments, transferring/ disposing of assets and recovery or enforcement of security interest are prohibited.

Delivering a welcome address India Infrastructure Finance Company Ltd Managing Director PR Jaishankar said IIFCL is one of the major financiers of airports in India and has supported airports with a total project outlay of about Rs 74,000 crore in the country.

India has witnessed a multi-fold jump in domestic and international passenger traffic with the improvement in civil aviation infrastructure, Jaishankar said.

To maintain this growth trajectory, further investment in the sector is required, including in maintenance, repair & overhaul (MRO) facilities, he said, adding that 95 per cent of MRO requirements are met through imports, which cost USD 2 billion per annum.