Airbus to bring all its Indian operations under one entity - Airbus Group India

Global giant Airbus Group is bringing all its Indian operations under one entity, Airbus Group India, as part of its strategy to participate in the Narendra Modi government's Make in India initiative.

"India is the first international market where local operations are being brought under a single company as part of the group's one roof policy," Airbus Group said in a release in the national capital.

The new entity would be headed by Pierre de Bausset, a veteran at the company and its former corporate secretary. The 60.7 billion Group comprises Airbus, Airbus Defence and Space and Airbus Helicopters.

"Given India's importance for us, we have implemented a new organisational structure with Pierre in charge. There will be more internal coordination, pooling of resources and a far more efficient engagement with our local stakeholders", the company statement said.

Formation of a single company will also greatly support our Make in India plans and allow us to take a leap in our relationship with the country, Airbus group chief executive, Tom Enders was quoted as saying.

"We aim to firmly embed Indian industry, public and private, in our global value chain and achieve $2 billion in cumulative sourcing from India by 2020," Bausset said.

"There is plenty of potential to make India a hub for engineering and innovation for the group", he added.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi had visited the Airbus facility in Toulouse during his recent visit to France in April where he had discussed his Make in India initiative.

"A mature Indian aerospace and defence sector is in our own interest. It would open up more opportunities for us to partner with domestic players to fulfil requirements of our local customers as well as jointly target export markets", Pierre added.

The group is tying up with Indian partners to target several ongoing defence acquisition programmes including combat helicopters. Recently, in association with Tata Group, it won the lone bid to offer the C295 aircraft as a replacement for the Indian Air Force's ageing Avro aircraft.