PM’s speech at foundation stone laying ceremony of aircraft manufacturing plant in Vadodara
Speaker: Narendra Modi
Date: 30 Oct, 2022

The Governor of Gujarat Acharya Devvrat ji; the popular Chief Minister of Gujarat Bhupendrabhai Patel ji; my Cabinet colleague and the Defence Minister of the country Shri Rajnath Singh ji; Shri Jyotiraditya Scindia ji; the Chairman of Tata Sons; the Chief Commercial Officer of Airbus International; everyone associated with the Defence and Aviation Sector; ladies and gentlemen! Namaskar! In Gujarat, Diwali lasts till Dev Diwali. And during this festival of Diwali, Vadodara, Gujarat and the entire country has received a priceless gift. It is a new year for Gujarat and I have come to Gujarat for the first time in the new year. Wishing you all a very Happy New Year! Today, we are taking a significant step towards making India a major manufacturing hub of the world. India is developing its own fighter planes today. Today India is making its own tanks and submarines. Moreover, ‘Made in India’ Medicines and vaccines are also saving the lives of lakhs of people in the world today. Electronic gadgets, mobile phones and cars ‘Made in India’ are dominating many countries of the world today. India which is moving ahead with the mantra of ‘Make in India’ and ‘Make for the Globe’ continues to enhance its potential. Now India will also become a major manufacturer of transport planes. It is beginning in India today. And I can visualize the day when the world’s biggest passenger planes will also be manufactured in India and will also carry the tag of ‘Make in India’. Friends, The facility for which the foundation stone has been laid in Vadodara today, has the power to transform the defence and aerospace sectors of the country. For the first time ever such a huge investment is being made in India’s defence aerospace sector. The transport aircraft being manufactured here will not only give strength to our army, but will also develop a new ecosystem for aircraft manufacturing. Known as the centre of education and culture, Vadodara will now emerge as an important hub of the aviation sector before the world with this new identity . Although India has already been exporting small parts of aircraft to many countries, now military transport aircraft are going to be manufactured for the first time in the country. I extend my best wishes to Tata Group and Airbus Defence Company for this. I have been told that more than 100 MSMEs of India will also join this project. In future, orders can also be taken here for exporting to other countries of the world. That is, the resolve of ‘Make in India’ and ‘Make for the Globe’ are also going to be stronger from this land. Friends, Today in India, we have the world’s fastest growing aviation sector. We are about to reach the top three countries in the world in terms of air traffic. Crores of new passengers are going to be air passengers in the next 4-5 years. The UDAN scheme is also helping a lot in this direction. It is estimated that in the coming 10-15 years, India will need about 2000 more passenger and cargo aircrafts. India alone needs 2000 aircrafts; this shows how fast the development is going to take place! India is already preparing to meet this huge demand. Today’s event is also a vital step in that direction. Friends, Today’s event also has a message for the world. Today India has brought a golden opportunity to the world. India’s manufacturing sector continues to have a growth momentum, despite disruptions in the supply-chain, and the circumstances created by Corona and the war. This is not a fluke. Today the operating conditions in India are continuously improving. Today India is emphasizing upon cost competitiveness as well as quality. Today India is providing opportunities for Low Cost Manufacturing and High Output. Today India has a huge pool of Talented and Skilled Manpower. The reforms undertaken by our government in the last eight years have created an unprecedented manufacturing environment in India. India has never had as much emphasis on Ease of Doing Business as today. A new saga of economic reforms is being written in India today like simplifying the corporate tax structure, making it globally competitive, allowing 100% FDI through automatic route in many sectors, opening up sectors like defence, mining, space to private companies, bringing labour reforms, turning 29 central Labour laws to just 4 codes, abolishing more than 33 thousand compliances and eliminating the web of dozens of taxes and creating one single Goods and Services Tax. Our manufacturing sector is reaping the benefits of these reforms. And friends, There is another major reason behind this success. Rather I would say that the biggest reason is the change in mindset. For a long time, governments have governed with the mindset that only the government knows everything and everything should be done by the government. This mindset suppressed the talent of the country and did not allow India’s private sector to grow. Moving forward with the spirit of ‘Sabka Prayas’, the country has now started giving equal importance to both public and private sectors. Friends, The previous governments had the mindset of avoiding the problems and they would keep the manufacturing sector running by giving some subsidies. This mindset has done a lot of damage to the manufacturing sector of India. As a result, no concrete policy was formulated before and the needs of logistics, electricity supply and water supply were ignored. The young generation of my country can very well understand the result of this mindset. Now India of today is working with a new mindset and a new work-culture. We have abandoned methods laden with adhocism and have come up with various incentives for investors for growth. We launched the Production Linked Incentive scheme, which made the change visible. Today our policy is stable, predictable and futuristic. We are improving the country’s logistics system through the PM Gati Shakti National Master Plan and National Logistics Policies. Friends, Earlier there was another mindset, that is, ‘India cannot excel in manufacturing, so it should focus only on the service sector’. Today we are not only focusing on the service sector but also enriching the manufacturing sector. We know that today no country in the world can progress by developing only the service sector or only the manufacturing sector. We have to adopt a holistic approach to development. And today’s New India has walked on the same path with confidence. There was another limiting belief that we have a shortage of skilled manpower. So, there was a lack of confidence in the skills of the country; there was a lack of trust in the talent of the country. Therefore, there existed a kind of apathy towards the manufacturing sector and less attention was paid to it. But today India is getting ready to be at the forefront in terms of manufacturing too. From Semiconductors to Aircrafts, we are growing with the intention of being at the forefront in every sector. This was possible because in the last 8 years we focused on skill development and created an environment for it. By integrating all these changes, today India’s development journey in the manufacturing sector has reached this stage. Friends, The fruits of our government’s investment-friendly policies are also visible in FDI. In the last eight years, companies from more than 160 countries have invested in India. And it is not that this foreign investment has come only in some industries. This investment covers more than 60 sectors of the economy and has reached 31 states and UTs. More than $3 billion has been invested in the aerospace sector alone. The investment in this sector was five times more in these eight years as compared to the 14 years from 2000 to 2014. In the coming years, the defence and aerospace sectors are going to be the major pillars of the ‘Atmanirbhar Bharat Abhiyan’. We aim to scale-up our defence manufacturing beyond $25 billion by 2025. Our defence exports will also exceed $5 billion. Defence corridors being developed in Uttar Pradesh and Tamil Nadu will also help in scaling-up this sector. Today I appreciate the Defence Ministry of the country and the Government of Gujarat. You must have seen that a few days ago they organized a spectacular Def-Expo in Gandhinagar. There was a major event related to various defence equipment. And I am really delighted to say that this was the biggest Def-expo ever. So, I congratulate Rajnath ji. One of the most important features in this event was the fact that all the equipment and technologies displayed in the Def-expo were ‘Made in India’. That is, the reflection of Project C-295 will also be visible to us in the future Def-expos. I extend my best wishes to the Tata Group and Airbus for the same. Friends, Today, on this historic occasion, I would like to reiterate my request to the friends associated with the industry. And I am glad that all the industry leaders and stalwarts from various sectors have joined us today to witness this momentous event. Make the most out of the unprecedented investment confidence that has been built up in the country at the moment. Don’t miss this opportunity to move forward as aggressively as you can. I would urge the players who are established in the industry to find ways to help the start-ups of the country to move forward. I want all the major industries to create one ‘start-up cell’ to study the start-ups of our youngsters across the country. How can your research match their work? Provide hand-holding to them and you will see that not only you are growing very fast but even those youngsters are bringing glory to India in the world of start-ups. Even their power will increase manifold. The participation of the private sector in research is still limited. If we increase this together, we will be able to develop a stronger ecosystem of innovation and manufacturing. The mantra of ‘Sabka Prayas’ will be useful to all of us and will guide us all. And we should walk on the same path. Once again, I congratulate all the countrymen for this modern aircraft manufacturing facility. Many new opportunities are waiting for the youth of the country. I also extend my special greetings to the young generation of the country. Thanks a lot !