Article Posted on : - Jun 16, 2015

PARIS (PTI): The Mahindra Group on Monday clinched a multi-million dollar aerospace contract with European consortium Airbus at the Paris Air Show, marking a major milestone in the 'Make in India' initiative.

Mahindra Group subsidiary Mahindra Aerospace bagged the multi-year aero-components manufacture and supply contract.

"This is significant as a vote of confidence in Make in India, the 'first tika' in this broad vision, as well as a vote of confidence in Mahindra," Anand Mahindra, chairman and managing director of Mahindra and Mahindra Ltd, told PTI on the sidelines of the Air Show which opened in Paris on Monday.

"Getting such a contract is a lengthy process which takes a lot of cooking and brewing and this implies Mahindra is now in the inner circle of suppliers," he said.

Airbus and Mahindra are already global partners in the aerospace engineering domain with Tech Mahindra being one of the global E2S engineering services providers to Airbus Group.

"This announcement marks a new milestone in our journey," said Klaus Richter, the Chief Procurement Officer of Airbus Group & Airbus.

Richter, who is also a member of Airbus Group Executive Committee and Chairman of the Supervisory Board of Premium AEROTEC, said, "By expanding our relationship from engineering to manufacturing, both of us are signalling our willingness to further strengthen our joint business relationship."

"We greatly appreciate this opportunity to work with Premium AEROTEC as they implement their strategic sourcing plans, and look forward to building up a vibrant partnership with Premium and the Airbus Group from this foundation," said Mr. Arvind Mehra, Executive Director and Global CEO, Mahindra Aerospace.

The contract, the value of which has not been disclosed, will involve a variety of Mahindra produced metallic components, in excess of a million parts per annum, to be fitted into several Airbus aircraft programmes as part of assemblies produced by Premium Aerotec.

The parts will be produced at the new Mahindra Aerostructures facility located at Narsapura near Bengaluru, with deliveries to Premium Aerotec's facilities in Germany scheduled to commence this year.

Mahindra said, "We as a group, with Tech Mahindra and Mahindra Aerospace, are the largest supplier to Airbus out of India but the potential remains to substantially hike the amount the company sources from India. As Airbus raises its procurement from India, it will be a great validation of Make in India."

"When we began our aerospace journey in 2008, India had yet to establish a presence in the global aerospace supply chain. We committed then to bridge that gap with our investments in aerospace manufacturing, and this new chapter in our relationship with Airbus attests to that commitment," he said.

"This is our vision to take 'Make in India' from policy to reality: Build bridges across cultures, countries and businesses," he added.