Today’s powerful India has come in a position to overcome recession in many countries.

Today, when the fear of recession is being expressed in many developed countries and these countries are facing economic problems, at such a time, Air India company of India, along with companies of developed countries like America and France, has launched the world’s largest aircraft. Completion has been done. After this deal, it is being said that along with America and France, the possibility of recession in Britain can also be reduced because the engines and other parts of the aircraft which will be provided to India by the companies of America and France are made by the companies of Britain. Therefore, Britain is also going to benefit a lot from the said deal. Due to the economic development happening in India amidst the apprehension of economic recession at the global level, it is now being said that India can be helpful in averting the coming economic recession in many countries. Till now, India has been given the name of a poor country and by these countries it has also been called the country of snake charmers. But, India has now completely changed and has reached the position of helping many developed countries financially.

Denationalizing the Air India company, the responsibility of its operation was recently handed over to the Tata group and the Tata group has completed one year of acquisition of Air India on January 27, 2023 itself. Now the Tata group is looking to rejuvenate Air India and buy 470 new aircraft worth about US $ 8,000 crore (about Rs 640,000 crore) with the aim of increasing new business in the aviation sector. In this context, Air India has announced the purchase of 220 aircraft from Boeing Company of America and 250 aircraft from Airbus Company of France. Although Air India’s historic deal with Boeing Company of America and Airbus Company of France has been done for 470 aircraft, but its nature can also be bigger as Air India also has the option to buy additional 370 aircraft during the next 10 years. Thus, this number can go up to 840 aircraft as well. This aircraft deal is one of the biggest aircraft deals ever done in the history of the world. Prior to this, in the year 2011, the American Airline Company had bought 460 aircraft together.

Air India was established by the Tata Group in the year 1932 and was nationalized in the year 1953. After nationalization, as the economic condition of the Air India Company continued to deteriorate, it was again acquired by the Tata Group after 7 decades. This is the first deal related to the purchase of Air India’s aircraft after coming under the ownership of the Tata group and this is also the first time in the last 17 years that Air India is going to complete the purchase of aircraft. Along with the purchase of the aircraft, Air India has also entered into agreements with CFM International (CFM), Rolls-Royce and GE Aerospace for long term maintenance of the engines. The agreement reflects the Tata Group’s aspiration to transform Air India into a world-class airline and to connect India directly to every major city in the world.

Air travel in India today is witnessing a very impressive growth rate, hence the large number of aircraft being bought at once. The number of passengers traveling by air in India was set to register a growth of 47 percent in the year 2022 to 123.2 million passengers, which is going to grow very fast in the coming years. Similarly, the number of airports was only 74 in the year 2014, which increased to 140 in the year 2022 and the number of airports in India is likely to increase to 220 in the year 2025. There were only 400 aircraft in the year 2014 in India, which increased to 710 in the year 2022 and the number of aircraft is likely to increase to 1200 in the year 2025. Thus lakhs of new employment opportunities are going to be created in the aviation sector in the next two years.

The said agreement is so important for America from the economic point of view that as soon as the said agreement is concluded, US President Joe Biden, while discussing the phone with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, while appreciating this agreement said that between Air India and Boeing With this historic agreement, the relations between India and America will be further strengthened in the future. At the same time, according to an announcement by the US President’s Office ‘White House’, Boeing and Air India have reached an agreement, under which Air India will buy 220 aircraft from Boeing for US $ 3,400 million. These include 190 B737 Max, 20 B787, and 10 B777X. The agreement will have an option to buy 70 more aircraft, taking the total transaction value to US$4,590 million. The said agreement will create more than one million job opportunities in 44 states of America. This is going to happen at a time when the whole world is going through a kind of economic crisis.

Along with America, Air India has also announced to buy 250 aircraft from France’s Airbus company. Of these, 40 will be full-size A350s and 210 will be small-size aircraft. A letter of intent has been signed by Air India with Airbus Company for the purchase of these aircraft. Prime Minister Narendra Modi and French President Emmanuel Macron were also present in this meeting. Large size aircraft are used for long distance flights. It is noteworthy that flights of more than 16 hours are called long haul flights. Today France is very happy about its strategic partnership with India.

Similarly, British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak has also expressed his gratitude to Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi while expressing happiness over this agreement and said that Britain will also get direct benefit of the said deal because the engines of these aircraft will be manufactured by Rolls-Royce of Britain. The company makes and many other parts are also manufactured in Britain, so thousands of new employment opportunities will be created in Britain.

Along with America, France and Britain, India is also going to benefit a lot from the said deal. Firstly, France has announced that it is going to open the world’s largest aircraft maintenance workshop in India. Thus, India is going to become the world’s largest maintenance hub in the aviation sector. With this, foreign direct investment in India will increase, economic activities will accelerate and lakhs of new employment opportunities will be created. Also, India is going to become the world’s third largest hub in the aviation sector in the near future. According to many estimates, India will need more than 2000 aircraft in the next 15 years. Right now this is just the beginning. Many avenues are opening up in India in the field of aerospace manufacturing as well. Secondly, seeing such a big deal being concluded, now the Free Trade Agreement with Britain can be concluded soon according to India’s terms. Thirdly, now Russia will also try to strengthen its security relations with India. Also, this is a very big news from the point of view of India’s respect, so now other countries will also have more faith in India.

Although India is a developing country, today it is coming forward in terms of helping developed countries. Recently, India has extended a lot of help to Turkey and Syria, which were in crisis due to earthquake, without considering that both Turkey and Syria have been involved in anti-India activities in the past. Even during the Corona pandemic, India has selflessly helped 150 countries by supplying medicines, medical equipment and vaccines etc. to them. It can be a matter of pride for our future generations that Indian industries have now become so big that they have the potential to create employment opportunities in other developed countries. Many big multinational companies, such as Google, Microsoft, Facebook, etc. are laying off employees, at such a time the Indian company Air India is buying 470 aircraft together. This in itself is a story of the changing economic picture of India.

– Prahlad Sabnani

retired deputy general manager

state Bank of India